After the entire 'me trying to leave on the shuttle ordeal' Obi-Wan and I had left Ahsoka and Anakin to figure out their debacle on their own. The longer I thought about my actions the more I realized it wasn't necessary, it was quite dramatic, and that I had done the wrong thing by making a scene. A scene I didn't mean to make, as in my head I believed I was just problem solving. You suck, V.
I felt my hands begin to perspire and curled them into fists at my sides, before I realized that would make them sweat worse, I opened them up wider than before to casually let the air run through them and cool them down. Even though I wasn't sweating because I was hot. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes as I realized I was wrong. About a lot of the things I did and the way I looked at life. I was upset to admit I was wrong, then I realized that was my pride talking and I needed to get over it.
Damn, haven't even been here an hour and Master Kenobi has already given me a breakthrough. A rather upsetting breakthrough, but a breakthrough nonetheless.
I decided Master Yoda did good putting us together, even if I was not excited for getting called out on my behavior in the future.
"How old are you Vera?" Master Kenobi broke the silence as we walked around base, men weaving around us to tend to their tasks.
I took in a breath as the wind picked up a tad, fresh air flowing into my lungs. I envisioned my damper mood getting caught in the wind and lifted away, I felt lighter on my feet and my head cleared. I still retained the knowledge of my ego, and that I was in need of a good humbling. I glanced up at Master Kenobi to answer but he cut me off.
"How did you do that?"
My brows furrowed and I came to a stop beside him, he turned to me with his eyes slightly widened, "You were ashamed and upset and it was following you and then I asked you a question and it vanished. How did you do that?"
I glanced around awkwardly, trying to escape his pointed stare, "Uhm, the wind picked up." He hung onto my words, and with everything I said the gears behind his eyes whirred. "I just pretended that it took the feeling with it, and then I told myself I needed to get over it."
He nodded and fell into deep thought, I could tell he was genuinely thinking over everything I had said and the events that just took place. I found it strange that he cared so much about something so small. I shook it off and answered his question, "I'm 14, Master."
Master Kenobi snapped out of his trance and we resumed walking as he looked down to me and considered his next words, "What's a regular day for you back at the temple like?"
I thought on it for a second, Did he mean the classes in a day or Did he mean my friends? "I start off with Force Theory. From there I go to Force History and then Meditation with Master Yoda or Master Ti. Then me and a couple of others go to the gym and spar for a few hours."
He hummed to show he'd been listening, "Which class do you get in trouble the most?"
I looked up at him and went to speak but he cut me off, "Don't act like you don't get in trouble, I'll be able to contact one of your teachers and know the truth."
I looked forward again and pursed my lips as I muttered my reply, "Force History and Force Theory."
I saw him look down at me out of the corner of my eye, "Both?"
I sigh and explain, "One after the other, taught by the same teacher."
He made an 'Ah' in understanding.
"Is there a reason it's those classes?" Is he trying to make me tell him I have friends? Will he take me away from my friends? My gut told me to lie, so I did.
"Force History is boring. Why do I have to learn about what a bunch of dead Jedi did when I could just learn it when I do it?" I ranted, too much- pull back. "I thought Force Theory would be fun but it's just a bunch of essay's. No acting on the theories."
Master Kenobi gave me the side eye, I stared back at him hoping he wouldn't see through me. I held his uncertain gaze until he looked away, convinced...I think. "Okay."
"Who goes to the gym with you?" What was he trying to get at? Was he going to lecture me on my behavior or not?
"Ahsoka, Barriss Offee, and Liam Calloway." I fiddled with the ends of my tunic, it was a black color with a complimentary brown leather belt to clip my saber to.
"Calloway? That's Master Securra's padawan."
I beamed as I recalled how proud I had been after hearing Liam was picked, the first one in our group- but that wasn't surprising. I was so jealous because Master Securra had been the Master I wanted, but I was more excited for him than anything. "Yeah, he's a friend of mine."
"Oh I know." I looked up at him in question.
He grinned down at me, "I knew who you were Vera, I came in to watch your clan when I had my eyes on Ahsoka."
"I couldn't help but be distracted by the two chatterboxes in the back." I winced as he added that, it was true, Liam and I talked a lot.
"Why did you ask me all these questions if you already knew the answers?"
"I wanted to see what you'd tell me." Master Kenobi said as if it were obvious. "And I also wanted the conversation to feel natural."
Master Kenobi was a lot different than I had initially thought. He was very good conversation, even if he had just been asking me questions the entire time. It still didn't answer my question the way I wanted though.
"I'm sorry- Master Kenobi?" He stopped and looked at me again waiting for me to ask my question. "Aren't you going to lecture me for my behavior?"
This was fishy. He was being too...nice?
He watched me for a moment considering my question. It urked me to no end knowing that any other master would've lectured me for hours but that the one I'd heard was the most 'old-fashioned' wasn't lecturing me at all. Was he just waiting until my guard was down so that he could make the lecture more memorable? Was he waiting for the tension to get so high that I embarrassed myself again? It was making me nervous not knowing what he was thinking.
"We'll have to sort this out later." He folded his hands behind his back, "It won't be long before those droids find a way around our canons."
With that he walked off leaving me to bask in my skepticism. I glanced up to find him again and saw he was halfway across the lot. I ran to catch up to him, this is going to be a long day.
As we went to find our Commander, Master Kenobi had informed me his name was Cody, we ran into Ahsoka and another clone. He had bleached blonde hair buzzed down to his scalp, he seemed to be in a rush but I ignored that bit as my eyes found his helmet under his arm. The painting on his helmet looked like it signified something, he had a set of JAIG eyes on it in a nice blue color. I'm sure he was very proud of those. "General, we're headed to a briefing."
Master Kenobi nodded, "We were just looking for Cody, I'm sure he'll be there."
With that we fell in step beside Ahsoka and the unknown man. I kept trying to find a way to stand next to her, but Master Kenobi simply placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a look so I'd stay put. I curled my lips but did as he said.
As we walked the man took notice of me, "I see you've got a Padawan too, General."
Master Kenobi nodded, "Yes Rex, I have." Master Kenobi gestured to me, "Captain meet Vera Hayes, my new padawan."
The man gave me a nod of acknowledgment, "Nice to meet you."
My mouth quirked up, "Likewise Captain."
We fell back into silence as we made our way back to the holo-table where we had made contact with Master Yoda earlier. I wondered how many moments of silence there would be before everyone would be comfortable enough to just talk with each other. Would these soldiers be quick to warm up or would it take more than that?
We all filed around the holo-table again, Ahsoka and Rex stood with us and Anakin stood to my left at the end of the table as Master Kenobi was leading the briefing, "The shield generator is somewhere in this area. They're slowly increasing the diameter, and keeping it just ahead of their troops."
Another man walked up to the table with the astromech from earlier, who's name I learned was R2-D2 but Artoo for short. I assumed the man was this Commander Cody I've heard so much about.
The Captain wasn't too pleased to hear what Master Kenobi had said, "Heavy cannons are going to be useless against that."
I noticed the increase of buildings as they would get to our area and went to talk before Master Kenobi cut me off, he'd done that a few times before already and it was starting to get annoying. "As they get closer, I suppose we could try to draw them into the buildings." He squatted down a little lower to get closer to the hologram, "That might level the playing field a bit."
Ahsoka had a different thought process though, "If that shield's gonna be such a problem, why don't we just take it out?"
I wondered how we'd even be able to do that. They'd have to let the shield pass over them, but how would they do that without being seen? If they waited for the shield to go over a building it would be too late for them to weave through the droids and get to the generator. They'd need some sort of cover. They could tuck themselves under the bridge or-
I caught sight of a metal container that had been emptied and was leaning against a wall. Without a word to anyone I raced over to get it. I dragged it behind me back to the table, when I got into earshot I heard Skywalker talking, "Someone has to get to that shield generator and destroy it. That's the key."
Master Kenobi looked unsure, "Right, then. Maybe you two can tiptoe through the enemy lines and solve this particular problem together."
"Can do, Master Kenobi." Ahsoka was just as eager to have a mission as I was.
"I'll decide what we do." I came up beside Skywalker with the metal container and propped it on the table. He shot me a curious look and I only smirked at him. This box would hide them from droids, to them it would look like just another piece of debris, they'd pass right under those droids and the tin can's wouldn't even know it.
"If Rex and I can engage them here, you two might have a chance to get through their lines undetected. Here." Master Kenobi stood up off of his knees and turned to the Captain as he spoke.
"They won't have much time. The droids far outnumber us, so our ability to street fight is limited without the use of heavy cannons." Captain Rex started messing with some buttons to demonstrate what would happen, "They will march forward under the protection of their shield until they are right on top of our cannons, then they'll blow them away."
"We'll figure out a way. Come on, Master. Let's go." Ahsoka turned to walk away.
I felt bad that Ahsoka had to deal with Skywalker insisting she wasn't his Padawan. "If we survive this, you and I are gonna have a talk."
I rolled my eyes, making sure I hadn't talked out of turn meant I hadn't gotten to present my idea. Fuck it, it's a great idea. "Hey, Skyguy!"
I heard Captain Rex snicker behind me. Skywalker and Ahsoka turned around, the togruta had an amused expression over her face and her master just looked annoyed. I tossed him the metal container, "Go to the bridge, get underneath it, wait till the shields go over you."
The annoyance on his face vanished and he looked from me down to the metal tin at his feet then back up at me before he picked it up. "Good eye, Snips."
Then he turned and walked away. I looked at Ahsoka in question at the nickname and she just shrugged before following after him.
"You two make quite the pair, young one." Master Kenobi caught my attention and I looked up at him curiously. "I'm going to have my work cut out for me with you both."
"Eh, it'll be fun." I crossed my arms and stepped up to the holo-table, "Plus, we'll keep you on your toes. If anything we're preparing you for any obstacle."
Master Kenobi, Rex and I stood in front of the cannons as they shot the energy shield and tried to take it out. It was not working at all, the shield didn't look the least bit altered with all of this fire.
Master Kenobi pulled his face away from his binoculars, "That shield is certainly putting a crimp in my day."
Rex dropped his own and turned to him, "It's no use, sir! Even at full power the cannon doesn't affect it."
Master Kenobi thought for a moment, "All right, Rex. It was worth a try. Tell the men to fall back!"
We retreated into the buildings and I find myself knelt down next to Master Kenobi on a balcony in one of the buildings that came off of the bridge. Rex ran over to us as the shield came over our building, the high pitch buzzing of the energy shield only hurt my ears for a moment. Master Kenobi watched the red shield continue to move. "We're inside the shield. Just stay away from those tanks."
He turned, without warning, and ignited his saber. I couldn't help but follow his lead. I drew the hilt of my saber into my hand using the force, I furrowed my brows at the somewhat un-familiar crystal inside. For a moment I wondered if I had called Master Kenobi's saber instead of my own, but one quick glance to him and I saw his in his hand. The vibration of the crystal inside of my saber felt off. What had happened between yesterday and today to make it feel so different to me? I felt uncomfortable even holding it. This wasn't my crystal.
I ignited the blade in my hands hoping that seeing the pure green blade would make me feel more connected to the sword I'd worked so hard for. The light of my sword reflected off of the glass of Rex's helmet and to my concern it made that unnatural feeling increase tenfold. I'd picked this crystal out only three weeks ago...could I have chosen wrong? I definitely could've chosen the wrong one but that doesn't explain why it still works or why Master Yoda even said it was my crystal.
I came out of my thoughts and found myself sitting alone on the top of the balcony, I gasped at the realization that I had been thinking so hard I forgot I was supposed to be fighting. I jumped over the balcony and after Master Kenobi without a second thought. I landed in a tuck and roll and ran straight for a gaggle of droids using force speed, once I was within a good twenty feet of them, I pushed off of the ground and spun in the air before landing in the middle of them. In one spin of my blade I had decapitated all seven.
I saw a few clones pinned behind some debris with droids closing in, upon running closer I recognized Commander Cody and some of the 212th. "Commander!"
He looked over at me and I leaped in front of the fallen column that provided them a shield. Instead I became their shield as I deflected blaster fire so that they could shoot out in front of me and take out the droids. There were easily twenty present, and all of their fire was focused on the boys and I but it was my job to deflect every single blast.
I was so busy deflecting the bolts that I didn't realize more droids were filing in as I blocked our men. I finally realized what was going on when Commander Cody called out from behind me, "We need to retreat into the buildings! They just keep coming!"
I spared a glance over my shoulder and noticed that everyone else was retreating into the buildings, Master Kenobi included. I whipped around to face the droids again and began taking small steps back, "On my mark!"
I saw a break in the firing and I took this as my opportunity, I stopped blocking and shoved both of my hands out sending the droids in front of us flying. "RUN!"
I swiveled around and ran for the fallen column, jumping over it because their was no time to run around it. My men were in front of me and the buildings were coming up soon, I felt a familiar pull behind me and spun to begin blocking again. Cody and the rest reached the door and ran into the building, I slowly backed into it as I blocked all of the fire to buy myself time to find my opening.
"Move your troops back to the heavy cannons!" I heard a familiar voice shout above the blaster fire. "Do everything you can to protect them. Vera and I will delay the droids!"
Rex went to protest but Master Kenobi cut him off, he sure loved doing that. "That is an order Captain!"
I didn't need to look behind me to know that the men were headed for the cannons. I took another step back as the wall blew out and dodged a few chunks of brick as Master Kenobi dealt with a droid trying to sneak up on him. I was quite surprised he was so limber, he talked like he was sixty.
Master Kenobi ran up to my side and held his hand out for me to stop when he realized we were being overrun. He had put up his own weapon and I noticed that the droids were preparing to shoot me so I reluctantly turned off my blade and attached it to my hip. Master Kenobi's glare was somewhere in between, 'this bitch has the audacity' and 'I'm done' as we waited for the top hatch of the tank that had rolled in to pop open.
When it did I wanted to take a step back. That is one ugly man. I decided against it and instead tried to equip myself with the same glare as Master Kenobi. I couldn't get the 'I'm done' part down but I was an expert at doing the 'this bitch had the audacity' stare.
"You must be the infamous General Kenobi." I almost laughed as I heard his accent. I felt like I was in one of those really shitty spy movies.
"I surrender." I spun my head so fast I felt like I was going to get whiplash. Master Kenobi had a smug look on his face and I realized what his plan was. He was distracting them. Smart, but more boring than just fighting them off. And probably safer than fighting them off too.
A battle droid marched up to Master Kenobi and swiped his lightsaber off his belt it turned to me and I dodged it's hand, the droids all instantly raised their arms again to fire at me and Master Kenobi sent me a look. I glared at him incredibly harshly before I gave in and let the droid swipe my lightsaber as well. I may not be connected with the crystal anymore, but it was still my only weapon.
"Now, Master Kenobi, order your troops to stand down." The alien from before demanded.
Master Kenobi just raised his arms and began to lift chunks of the broken wall. I watched him work, enchanted by his simple use of the force, when someone used the force I could never look away. The force was not something I overlooked very easily. I noticed how he had arranged the debris and realized that he had sat down four rocks. One table, two chairs for us and a single chair on the other side for the droid General. I refrained from laughing at the small bit of dramatics.
I smirked to myself. Maybe I would do just fine with Master Kenobi.
"General, have a seat."
The General looked at a loss for words, "Have you gone mad?"
I looked back to Master Kenobi, awaiting his response. This was just too entertaining. "I've conceded the battle. Now we simply have to negotiate the terms of surrender."
The General looked hesitant, "Don't try any of your tricks, Jedi."
Master Kenobi himself looked entertained, it was like watching a cat play with a mouse. "Surely there's no reason we can't be civilized about this?"
The General's tank ramp had opened and there he stood, all 4 feet of him.
"'Tis a rare honor to meet one's opponent face-to-face. You're a legend throughout the Inner Core." I understand lying to him, but did he seriously have to whip out the flattery?
The General took a seat and crossed his legs, leaning against the debris as if he'd had a long day. "Thank you. The honor is all mine. I'm so glad you decided to surrender."
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Master Kenobi approach his seat, I mirrored his actions and took my own seat. "Well, at some point, one must accept the reality of the situation."
Master Kenobi coughed into his hand, faking- yet again. "Might we have some refreshments?"
The General nodded once and turned to the poor servant droid beside it shouting, "You! Bring us something liquid."
I got excited as I imagined what type of beverage it would be. The General before us seemed like a Jager man, but with just casual drinks I envisioned a glass of scotch.
"Thank you. This shouldn't take long." The undertone of his voice screamed 'I know something you don't know.' And that something was that Skyguy and Ace are working on taking down their shield as we speak.
There was a brief waiting period, in which Master Kenobi and the General made small talk. I just analyzed the droids and tried to figure out what their mainframes look like. I established that the bigger battle droids probably released their operating signal through their heads and had their wiring in the main part of their bodies and that the regular battle droids had antenna that produced their operating signal and that their wiring was most likely in their head and upper torso.
I wondered if these droids were programmed to take note of our fighting techniques, or if it were a completely other droids job.
"And of course, once you've taken custody of my troops, arrangements will need to be made for their food and shelter."
It wasn't long before the servant droid ran back out and placed cups before each of us and poured us each a drink. I glared down at the brown liquid, this was definitely not booze...it was tea. I rolled my eyes but brought it to my lips anyways, taking a sip. I spit it out immediately, "Master! They tried to poison me!"
Master Kenobi took my tea out of my hands and took a sip, he wrinkled his nose in disgust, "Vera, you didn't put any sugar in this."
My eyebrows came together, "You're supposed to put sugar in it?"
Master Kenobi guffawed at me, "You don't put sugar in your tea?"
I leaned back complacently, "I don't drink tea."
He glared at me as if to say 'we'll talk about that later'. He placed my cup down and reached for the small cup in the middle of the table, he took the tongs and dropped a few cubes of sugar in my cup. He began to slide it back over to me when the General lost his patience.
"Enough of this! You are stalling!"
I swiped up my tea, quickly getting it off the table, just in case the General decided he was going to get a little more aggressive with his outburst. I sipped on the sweetened liquid as I watched the interaction.
"Nonsense. General, there are numerous details to be discussed." I had a feeling I needed to back up and of course just as I got out of the way the General flipped the table. He quite literally grabbed the table and tossed it.
"Seize them!"
I was only halfway through with my tea when the guards swiped me up by my arms, "Hey!"
I watched the delicious beverage clatter onto the ground and spread out over the dirty floor. So much wasted because someone decided to throw a temper tantrum. My eyes snapped up to the General in a glare as I struggled to get my footing while the droids dangled me in the air, "You owe me a tea!"
The General ignored me and marched up to Master Kenobi, shoving his finger in his face. "Unless you call off your troops right now, I will have no choice but to destroy you."
Master Kenobi dropped the act as we dangled in the air letting a little man shout up at us, "Truthfully, I was hoping your shield would be knocked out by now."
Just as he said that the shield began to vanish, I smirked over at Master Kenobi waiting for the signal. He was watching the destruction of the shield and glanced back down to look at the General before shrugging, "Oh, well."
In sync we both jumped up and out of the clutches of those rust buckets. Master Kenobi moved for the General and I located our lightsabers, using the force to drag them into my grasp as Kenobi got the General in a chokehold. I ignited the blades and flipped in front of the General, landing in a crouched position with my saber behind me in a backwards hold and Master Kenobi's in front of me on the defense.
This was the best starting position for form four, Master Yoda had taught Ahsoka and I this form because he himself used it. I only used it now because of the fact I had two lightsabers instead of one. I much preferred form five, specifically Djem So, it focused more on saber-to-saber combat and blaster deflection. It was a more unpredictable form seeing as you would go from a defensive tactic to an all-out attack whenever you saw fit. I had began teaching myself form five as soon as I was given a practice saber. Sometimes I even snuck into the Jedi Archives late at night to research more stances, and how to become more fluent in them. I wasn't exactly supposed to know form five yet, or at least not to the extent of using it in combat.
"Don't fire!" The General exclaimed.
"Something appears to have happened to your shield, General." I quipped slyly, tossing my head back as my lips quirked upwards at him.
Master Kenobi began getting a call and maneuvered his grip on the General to where he could best answer the call. "General Kenobi, if you can hear me, we're through the blockade. The separatist armada is in retreat. Your reinforcements should be landing in a moment."
I tightened my grip on the sabers as I heard the sound of backup above us. Ship after ship of reinforcements flying over us to assist us in taking the planet. "What a beautiful sound."
A transport came around and landed behind us, I sheathed my lightsaber and tossed Master Kenobi his as I went to stand on the General's other side to catch him if he tried to run. The doors open and plenty of clones ran out, in the midst of the panic Master Yoda waddled out as well. "Your timing is perfect, Master Yoda."
I smiled over at our grandmaster, he looked a little upset...a little sad but when he saw my smile he returned with his own. "A success, your first mission was."
My giant smile fell to a lopsided grin, "Does this really count as my first mission, Master? I mean I did come in after Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker did all the hard work."
Master Yoda walked over to stand next to me. I felt a calm wash over me knowing he was near. Something about Master Yoda made me feel safe. He looked up at me, "Wait, the congratulations will. For your first official mission."
The three of us were enveloped in the sound of surrender, and the desperate cries of the war General as a couple of troops dragged him away. I crossed my arms in satisfaction of my work, our work. I glanced over at Master Kenobi and nodded in thanks, he seemed to understand my sentiment and mirrored it with his own nod.
Yes, I think Master Kenobi and I will do just fine.