Author's Note: I only have 5% a clue what I'm doing in this chapter, so don't even ask. xD I'll just say I TRIED. ^-^ My knowledge on military strategies is approximately null, which isn't very useful when I've got an entire battle to make up myself. xD
~ Rivana Rita
"How do you know so much about me?" Ahsoka asks, curiously, looking down at her datapad. She and her master are researching the planet they're headed to, and somehow, he knew just the right jobs to give her, the ones that take less time and are more straight forwards.
"You wouldn't be the first Togruta I knew," he replies distractedly.
Ahsoka leans forwards, curiosity piqued. He never talks about his past. "Really?"
"Yeah." His voice drops a little. It's the same way he was acting when they went to Tatooine, and it makes her even more curious. She wants to know.
"What happened?"
Somehow, his voice manages to drop even farther when he keeps talking. "They're gone."
Ahsoka frowns. He never answers anything about himself. "We're not all the same," she objects, returning to their previous topic. She wants more details about his past sometime because it's mysterious and that's never something she'll stop wanting to unravel. Right now, though, he's made it obvious it's not something he'll discuss.
"Well, you're hunters. A proclivity to aggression, being independent... it's not all that hard to guess."
"I am not," Ahsoka grumbles.
"This is our second mission," Master Skywalker says, looking up from his datapad. "Stay close to me. I'll show you the best way to take out the droids. Remember, weapons first. Then they can't shoot you."
"Haven't forgotten."
"Good." His playfulness seems to have disappeared. "The most important thing to learn first is how to survive. Then, we can get into strategies."
She can't help but notice how he seems worried, as opposed to her excitement. The battle on Teth was thrilling, and they're back at it again. The only difference is that this time, she knows who her master is. She doesn't have to worry about needing to prove she's capable, even if she has to live up to his image.
"How are you?" Master Skywalker asks hesitantly. "Are you... feeling up to this?"
"Of course!"
"I know you think you are, but war is... tiring. We should've had more time to prepare. We should've gotten a few weeks of time at the Temple, but we didn't, so we'll have to make do." Ahsoka has the distinct feeling that he's annoyed about it, even if his tone doesn't indicate it. "I know you're capable, Ahsoka, but the front is dangerous. It's not a place for beginning training."
He seems worried, which is strange. It's unsettling to see the side of Master Skywalker which is so very human, burdened with normal concerns and worries.
"We'll be fine," Ahsoka chirps. After all, they're Jedi. A group of clankers can't get them down.
It's not long later that they're called to the bridge right before the cruisers exit hyperspace. Her master has that look of intense focus on his face again, the one he seems to have before battle.
Her own heartbeat picks up as pre-battle adrenaline rushes over her.
The ship jolts, and the white and blue streaks outside the viewport fade out into the vast expanse of space. The first thing that comes into view is the Separatist fleet blockading the planet. The second thing she notices is the remains of the Republic ships. "I thought we were here to reinforce, not replace," Ahsoka mutters.
"He's still alive," Master Skywalker replies.
It's not until he gives the order to head for the hanger that Ahsoka suddenly realizes that she has no idea what to do. It's the first space battle she's ever in. "Where's my fighter?" Ahsoka asks, trailing her master through the hanger.
"You'll be my gunner."
"What? Why?" she protests, annoyance flooding through her. "You have Artoo for that!"
"I don't have time to give you a crash course on flying fighters right now," Anakin replies as he starts climbing the ladder. "This isn't practice, Snips. It's war. Maybe next time. C'mon, let's get going."
Ahsoka decides to keep the rest of her complaints to herself as she climbs after him, settling into her seat. They're heading out of the hanger almost before Ahsoka has finished settling in and looking over the controls, commands being shouted all around. She's glad, she thinks, because she doesn't know enough about battle to be on her own. If she's with her master, the orders don't matter. All she needs to do is focus on shooting down one vulture droid after another, which she happily does.
Apprehension washes over her as a shot from the vulture droids' skims just outside the viewport – her master is going on a full-front assault on the droids, of course – but she quickly squashes it. Her master is an expert pilot; there's nothing to worry about. All she needs to do is focus. It's not that hard. They did the same thing back on Tatooine.
***
It's one of the more difficult battles, Anakin realizes quickly. He's taken out a few of the Separatist blockade ships, but their control ship is too well-guarded to damage. He'd continue pressing the attack, except the three cruisers he brought have been damaged, and they had to pull back and regroup.
The mission could very quickly turn out disastrously, and they need to proceed with upmost caution. "This may turn out to be no more than a rescue mission," Obi-Wan's hologram warns him.
"Can't let that happen, Master," Anakin replies, determination coursing through him. The Republic likely lost this battle last time, but that doesn't mean he'll back out of the fight. "If we can get past the blockade down to the surface, we can take out their bases. Once their hold on the planet is gone, they'll pull back."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Obi-Wan replies before call disconnects.
Anakin suppresses the swell of bitterness, because even now when Anakin has years of foreknowledge, his master hardly trusts him. He can think about it later.
"What's the plan, Master?" Ahsoka asks from where she stands at the holotable beside him.
"We can't sneak past," he realizes, studying a hologram of the blockade's layout. "We'll have to go through on gunships." Which means distracting the droids again, somehow. If they have something else to focus on...
For a fleeting moment he thinks of what he did on Ryloth, ramming his cruiser straight into the enemy's control ship, but Anakin would rather not sacrifice even one of his damaged cruisers for that unless he needs to. That time, the thing had been destroyed almost beyond repair, and they're very expensive. It'd take out the blockade, but more would come, anyway.
It only feels hard because Ahsoka won't be beside him, Anakin realizes. It's fine. He can do this. He's done it a hundred times throughout the Clone Wars last time. "I'll take a squadron of fighters out, to punch a hole through their defenses. The gunships will go through that. I'll join you on the surface afterwards, with Artoo."
This is always what frightens him, because Ahsoka will be in the gunships, and so will Rex, and it would be so easy for them to be shot down. He doesn't take the time to think about it any more than he ever does. War is war. It requires risks all the way around. It's only harder now, because he vowed to protect Ahsoka, and he failed. Who's to say he won't make the same mistake a second time?
His Ahsoka is gone while he's still here. She's technically still alive, just gone, but it still feels like she died, because he knows she isn't out there anymore. Technically, she did die. On Mortis. He brought her back, somehow, with a part of the Force the Jedi neglected to mention. It's not a surprise – they neglect to tell him most things. He could have brought his mother back had he known how. But none of that matters anymore. Even if his Ahsoka survived, she's gone forever.
He'll have to keep moving. He has his new padawan to care for, regardless of how much it hurts. She is what matters.
***
The surface of Amorrut is covered mostly with trees, Ahsoka notices, as she jumps out of the gunship. They must've landed near one of the bases, because a battle is raging all around. She sprints towards the group of approaching droids, igniting her lightsaber.
Master Skywalker was right; she hasn't fought enough against live fire to know it's ins and outs best, but she's practiced enough with the droids at the Temple to know how to do it.
She pauses to deflect a blaster shot, aiming it at one of the battle droid's companions, before continuing onwards.
Her montrals are picking up everything in the battlefield, every blaster moving to fire, every movement either clones or droids make, and it's overwhelming. She tries to tune it out, to focus solely on the droids she runs towards.
Ahsoka slashes the first droid in half, sidestepping its blaster. When another fires at her, she sends the shot back a third, moving out of the way as the others turn their attention to her.
She takes down a few more before Rex arrives, shooting down the rest of the droids she's facing.
The sound of an engine catches her attention, and Ahsoka glances skywards. A familiar golden fighter swoops overhead, landing nearby. Her master has arrived. Finally.
She's tempted to keep pressing onwards – the base is right up ahead – but Master Skywalker ordered her to stay close to him, so she takes off in search of him.
He's not hard to find. All she needs to do is follow the trail of completely scrapped droids, and he's at the end. "The base is up ahead," Ahsoka yells to him over the sound of battle. She sees clones falling nearby, but she doesn't stop to think of what it might mean. They're soldiers; it's what they're for, she tries to tell herself, but she can't quite accept it.
"I see it," he calls back. "Here, Snips, your movements are jerky – try to keep them fluid, it uses less energy."
"What?" Ahsoka shouts, swinging her lightsaber downwards to deflect a shot that would've gone straight through her middle.
He gives a half-sensible explanation, something about how she needs to hold herself looser and not so tense – it only partly makes sense – before they continue forwards, having taken out the rest of their droids.
"Hold our position here," Master Skywalker calls. "I'll take a group around to attack from the other side."
"On it, sir," Rex replies.
"Good luck, Skyguy," Ahsoka calls after him as he disappears through the trees. They're abruptly plunged into mostly silence now that the battle has ended. It was easy, as far as she's concerned. "That wasn't so bad," Ahsoka remarks, looking at the clone.
"We're not done yet, kid," he warns.
It's mildly irritating, even if it's not meant to be, because it feels like she's a child and therefore incapable of doing this right. At least he's talking, the Togruta tries to reassure herself. The boys like listening to her, but they don't strike up conversations.
Ahsoka tries to refocus on the situation at hand. She doesn't know where Master Piell is. His clones are here, but she doesn't see the Jedi Master himself anywhere. She knows there's a chance that they could be too late to save him, that he might be gone, but she won't think like that.
It happened so fast. One moment they were standing there, calmly, and the next...
Something slams into her back, throwing her face-first into the dirt with an undignified yelp. She barely rolls aside as a blaster shot strikes the ground, scorching it black. Ahsoka grabs for her lightsaber, rolling to her feet. A Commando droid. No, two of them, maybe more. One of them is attacking Rex.
Ahsoka swings her lightsaber at the one in front of her, but it jumps aside and rolls downwards swinging around to shoot her in the back. She sidesteps it right on time, then raises her lightsaber to block a shot from the other side. There's two of them, attacking from either side, and they aren't a type of droid Master Skywalker instructed her how to handle.
It can't be any harder than the padawans I've dueled, the Togruta tries to assure herself, but it doesn't go too far.
She flicks out a hand to Force-shove the first droid before jumping at the second. She's fast enough this time, to lop off its blaster arm. That doesn't seem to stop it from fighting, though.
A blaster shot rings out from behind her; she's fairly certain Rex got ahold of one of his dropped blasters again.
Ahsoka whips around to deflect the shots from the first droid, only for the second to slam into her from behind, tackling her to the ground. She yelps ungracefully as she slams face-first into the dirt, again, the droid on top of her. She flexes her wrist, trying to cut the droid in half, lest the other shoot her here and now. This is so, so stupid. She just became a padawan, and she's about to die at the hand of a couple stupid clankers?!
There's suddenly the sound of a lightsaber humming, and the smell of burned metal, then the thumps of a droid hitting the ground. The weight atop her is suddenly lifted and thrown to the side.
Ahsoka pushes herself upright, half expecting to see Master Skywalker, but instead coming face-to-face with the missing Jedi Master. "Master Piell?" she splutters, scrambling to her feet.
"Are you alright, Padawan?" he asks.
"I'm fine, but we were worried... we couldn't find you!"
"It takes more than a droid to kill me," he replies with a note of amusement in his voice.
"Sending children to the front lines already?" sniffs Piell's captain, Tarkin, stepping into view. He eyes her with something akin to distain. "It's no wonder that the war is not going as smoothly as it should be. Younglings are only slowing down our men."
Ahsoka bristles angrily at the implication. "I'm not a youngling," she snips. "I'm a Padawan."
Piell gives Tarkin a look, obviously telling him to hold his tongue, before he looks back at her. "We should provide support to your master," Piell decides. "This won't be an easy battle."
***
Compared to all battles Anakin's fought in, this isn't so bad. It was fairly fast, even if it took all day. Retaking the base took a lot of effort. He's focused enough that he registers little else, so the implications that he met Admiral Tarkin way, way early haven't sunk in yet, nor has his frustration at working with the man so closely.
It's his padawan's second battle, though, and they're finishing off the remaining droids in the vicinity.
He can see clearly the hunter his padawan is, now. In her vicious stance, the way her expression fades between a snarl and a smirk as she cuts through her opponents, the way she bares her fangs... the way she stalks after her escaping prey. He's seen it so many times. It's only different now because it's so much more prominent. At sixteen, she'd lost much of the aggression that defines her now.
With a wave of his hand, Anakin yanks the remaining droids onto his lightsaber before discarding them on the ground and turning to Ahsoka, where she lops the last one in half after taking off its blaster-arm.
It's hard, it's so hard to watch his padawan and fight a battle at once. Both require a certain dedication, and it's far from easy to offer both simultaneously. He had struggled with it last time. It's why he didn't want a padawan; because he had the war, and it would mean he'd have to focus on teaching her, instead of ending the war.
The war, that Anakin himself had played such a vital role in starting. Padme assured him that the Separatists would have attacked the Republic eventually anyway, and he knows that it's true, but he feels guilty anyway.
Ahsoka looks up at him from the remains of the battle, exhaustion clear on her features, but she's here and she's alive and she's alright, and it's enough to overwhelm him. He wants nothing more than to pull her into his arms and never let go, to shield her from the world surrounding them forever, but he can't. He's her master, not her – not her father. They're... friends, but she's his family, and he'll do anything to protect this child, but – but it's not the Jedi way. Was that where he went wrong? Because he was too open? Because he cared too much?
Anakin shudders at the very thought of being as cold and closed off towards Ahsoka as Obi-Wan was towards him. He can't do it.
Does it really matter? He's having Obi-Wan help him for a reason, and he can only hope it was the right choice.
Finally, Anakin gives in, stepping over to Ahsoka and tugging her into a tight embrace. She's so much smaller than he'd become used to, but it's still her, and this is his padawan, and it's all that matters. It feels too right for it to bother him.
He feels her surprise, and she hesitantly reaches up with her left arm, wrapping it around him. "You did well," he murmurs, "And for the record, you can call me Anakin. When it's appropriate, of course."
"I'll stick with Skyguy," she replies, smugly.
He chokes back a laugh. "Sure."
Anakin's comm beeps, sharply bringing him back to reality. "Yes, Rex?"
"There's three bases on the surface," he relates. "We've taken out the first one."
Two more to go. It could be worse, Anakin tries to reassure himself, but he hoped it would be easier. "Better than four," he replies. He has to keep the spirit up, even if only for the boys. "Keep me posted. Do you have the locations recovered?"
"Working on it, sir."
"I'm coming," Anakin informs, "How many?"
There's a brief pause; Rex knows well what he's asking. "We haven't gotten the numbers, yet."
"Get the wounded treated," he orders, disconnecting the call. "C'mon, Snips, let's get moving."
"Already?" Ahsoka asks, running to his side. She still doesn't seem out of energy, or maybe it's just that she's forcing herself to keep moving despite feeling like she's about to collapse. It wouldn't be a surprise; she did that even when she was older.
"We need to know," he tells her. "They might be born to fight, but they're people. They deserve the honor, to be treated with respect. But –" Anakin remembers, over two years ago when Ahsoka came, she was... lonely. She didn't have an easy time fitting into the 501st, not in the beginning. They weren't ready for a commander, let alone a teenage Togruta girl. It was intriguing, but it took time, a lot of time, for them to bond.
It took a long time, before the boys – excluding Rex, of course – were willing to trust her unconditionally.
"But they weren't prepared for you anymore than I was," Anakin continues. "It'll take time, but you will learn to trust each other eventually, I promise, but have patience. Trust is a thing earned, not easily given."
"I'll remember," she promises.
There's a lightness in her step, a sense of energy, that he doesn't really remember. She's only a child, and it's so, so wrong for these years to be ruined amidst the chaos of battle. All he can do is push himself faster, and take out the Sith, somehow. The war won't end until them and Grievous are dead.
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