Just when you think you've had a nice day, don't let your guard down, because the night is far from over.
It was 6 hours back to Coruscant from Isoria. Me and Anakin didn't spend much time together on the ride back since we were both practically exhausted. Anakin generously cleared out Obi Wan's room for me, and I crashed within the first two minutes. He crashed too, but he left after a while to attend to his duties on board.
I woke up a couple of hours later, and I couldn't go back to sleep. A part of me wanted to go exploring, like Anakin had offered, but a greater part of me wanted to lie in bed and relax. It's been... months since I was on someone else's cruiser and believe me when I say it is a rare joy. You have no commitments to anyone on board, don't have look after anything or go to the bridge at all.
Don't get me wrong, I love interacting with the troops and officials, but not when I'm weary and tired.And besides, I'm actually conscious and unharmed, which is also something to be thankful for. More often than not, the Jedi arrive from battles battered and bruised.
Or dead, but we're being optimistic here.
I had every expectation of a quiet evening and night ahead of me in my quarters on Coruscant, meditating and filing petty reports.
That did not happen.
When Anakin and I set foot into the hangar of the Jedi Temple, it was chaos. There were Padawans running back and forth across the room, troopers barking orders as platoons after platoons marched out and onto cruisers. Hangar workers frantically typed away at controls, ground workers scurried to ship after ship and alarms were blaring everywhere.
Not a single Jedi Knight was in sight."Something's wrong." Anakin said.
Yeah, no dank.
"Skywalker, (y/l/n)!" A booming voice - Mace Windu - thundered. He got back from Saleucami last week, when we were on a Isoria, and it's safe to say it didn't go well for him at all. He broke his right femur and his left fibula, leaving him wheelchair bound for a while; he was shot in the shoulder thrice, he broke 3 of his ribs and he got caught in an explosion that's left him with burn scars on the right side of his face, cue the ball of bandages he's wearing. The healers aren't sure if his eye will even make it; it's a bit painful to see. EVeryone's been walking on eggshells around him since he doesn't like when we act like he's debilitated, but we don't want to push him.
"Master." I greeted as he awkwardly rolled up to us. "What's happening? How can we help?"
"It's a calamity. This is no way to greet both of you after your very successful mission, and I'm sorry it has to be this way, but tragedy has befallen us." he told us very seriously.
"What's happened?" Anakin asked, echoing me.
"It's a trap. We've sent Jedi to every part of the Galaxy for small, insignificant missions and we have no one left in reserves. But Luminara's entire fleet is in the Bespin orbit and they've just contacted us with a Code Black." He explained.
Code Black...? Something must be horribly wrong. It's the highest level of emergency alert. We didn't even use it when the Temple hangar was bombed around a year ago. It's theoretically to be used when you're in dire need of help, or afraid of mass destruction, but... it's never happened. I've never seen it happen. I don't even know anyone who's seen it happen.
"You both are the only Knights we have back for the next half-rotation at best. I hate to send you off on such a perilous mission when you arrive, but it's our only option. I would go, but..." he gestured to himself, indicating he couldn't help.
"Master Yoda himself is considering the possibility of having to leave Kashyyyk. There are at least 5 others we have asked to leave on emergency to help her, but you're the only ones who are likely to reach her in time."
"Anything we can do to help, Master. How can we be of service?" Anakin asked, immediately rising to the moment.
This is why we call him a hero and a selfless warrior. He helps without thinking.
"Both of you, take your starfighters and get there as soon as possible. Don't worry about not having enough fuel for a round trip. I will send for (y/n)'s cruiser, the Shuriken, to meet you there. Both of your Clone Captains volunteered your batallions for the battle, so they will find you there."
"Not to worry, Master. We'll take care of this." I nodded. Mace smiled back at us, but it came out like a bit of a grimace because of the bandages holding him back. I would ask if he was alright, or if I could do anything to help if he was in pain. Something that not a lot of people, even COuncil members, know about me is that I'm a certified field medic. About a year ago, I gained the qualification because I thought it'd be necessary. As much as I want to help Master Windu, now is quite obviously not the time.
Me and Skywalker nodded to each other in wordless agreement, unthinking, as we ran to our ships, ready to save our fellow Jedi.
*
My ship beeped, alerting me that I had reached our destination. That's the neat thing about starfighters. Although Bespin is roughly 2 and a quarter parsecs away, fighters are small enough to be considered like particles in space-time travel. The distance gets squashed up so that even though we're travelling at only 0.98 over light speed, so we reach our destination in a bit under half an hour.
"Where's Anakin?" I mumbled to myself as I pulled out of hyperspace, muttering to myself before I finally saw what was in front of me, and the words died in my throat.
"Right here-" his voice crackled through the intercom as he pulled out of hyperspace beside me, before he trailed off. I knew he could see what I could see.
We were both looking at the same horrendous, despicable and horrific battle unfolding in front of us. No words need to be said.
"Master Luminara? Can you read me? Please come in!" I shouted over the transmitter, hoping that someone would pick up on it from her end as I pushed forwards towards the battle.
"We read you! State your name and business!" An officer shouted, accepting our transmission. Even over audio, I could hear the ship shaking in the background, the screams of those caught on board and the rumble of debris falling as they continued to brace themselves as they were showered with firepower.
"General (y/l/n) and Skywalker, responding to Code Black!" I replied, quickly patching Skywalker through to the transmission as well.
"Oh, thank the Force, two of the best!" he exclaimed. "We really need your help. The Separatists have too much firepower and the front of our cruiser is taking heavy losses. From what we can see, it's hundreds of small droid-controlled ships, all firing collectively. Our shields have been breached and we have no defence mechanisms."
"Officer, droids, are our specialty." Anakin chuckled. "Not to worry, we'll have them blasted into smithereens in no time. Skywalker out."
"Wait, Anakin, we need a plan-" I began, but it was too late - he'd already thrown caution to the wind and dived headfirst into the heat of the action. "Asshole." I mumbled to myself, hoping that it wouldn't get caught over radio. "
We'll check back in consistently, officer. The Temple also says they've got more reinforcements on the way as well. Copy?" I asked the officer.
"Roger that, General. Over and out." The officer told me, and I followed Skywalker into the heat of the battle.
"Wait up!" I yelled through the radio, re-establishing the connection with Skywalker. This isn't one of your glory missions, Skywalker, this is a catastrophe. We're supposed to be working for a coordinated effort!"
"At ease, Princess. Don't get your panties in a twist. droids are just target practice for us." He replied nonchalantly. His carefree attitude despite the situation was getting on my nerves, but I could tell from a steely edge to his voice that there was a deeper fear to his voice.
"Go left." I commanded. "I'll take the ones on the right. Stay on radio unless you fear interception, in which case inform me of radio silence."
He said nothing in response, wordlessly falling left. I drifted right, allowing the Force to flow through me. I'll need it now more than ever. I must have forgotten how busy battles can get, because the amount of sheer firepower headed towards my ship admittedly caught me a little off guard. "Holy fark." I mumbled, dodging the bolts of energy. "This is madness."
Although the ground was hellish, as roughly 70% of all shots were now being fired at me, I had an idea. I allowed the shots to drive me eastward, until I was just out of the range of the leftmost droid-ship."I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me." I whispered, and fired a shot at just the right angle. It hit the ship - whose range I had just escaped - dead center, blasting it out of the sky.
"Nice shot, Princess, but I wanna play a game." Anakin said, appearing randomly and out of the blue.
Oh, so now he decides to stay on radio and pay attention.
"Anakin, now is not the time!" I grunted, yanking on the controls to pull back, just enough to allow a stray shot to fly over my head.
"Let's make this easier. Count your droids, I'll count mine. Whoever shoots more, wins."
"Anakin, this isn't a game!" I scolded, firing a couple dozen shots in succession, hoping that the angle of the span would mean that at least 2 ships would be eliminated.
2 ships out of maybe 50.
"Everything is a game, sunshine. I'm already on 8, so if you want to win, you better pick it up." He boasted, before the radio pinged with his exit. The thought of cussing him out comes to mind again.
The shots I fired were better than I expected, hitting 4 more droids. "And I'm on 5, wait, 6." I mumbled, as another ship went down. "You're barely in the lead. Asshole." I know he can't hear me, but it's satisfying for some reason.
I briefly turned to see what Skywalker was doing, and he looked like he'd seen better times. A couple ships had him in close proximity and he looked like he was struggling to keep up with dodging them all.
I guess that karma's way of telling him to stop being cocky.
Suddenly, I noticed something in the wall of droids on my side of the battle; I had another idea, and perhaps, a reckless one. It wasn't my usual sort of plan, but desperate times call for desperate measure. I pulled back, moving away from the droids and span around in some circles as if I was trying to escape the blaster bolts, trying to confuse the droids. It seems my plan worked to some extent, because I noticed they were firing slower and less accurately.
Okay. Okay. Phase 2 of my plan.
I hurtled sloppily towards the wall of droids, in almost a zig zag so they couldn't tell where I was headed. In reality I was headed towards a small opening on the lower left hand corner. It looks barely enough for me to slip through, but if I can successfully do so, I'll have an amazing opportunity.
I deliberately slowed, allowing more shots to be focused my way so they think they have me.
As I aligned myself with the crevice in the wall, I thrusted forward with all of my engine power. After going so slowly, the Federation droids probably won't notice what happened or where I went because they're not wired to be very observant or quick.
Or so I hope.
I almost didn't expect that I'd be able to make it through the crevice in the last few seconds, but I had enough faith to keep going. As I slipped through the crevice, I grinned victoriously as I slowed down and turned around.
Phase 3, bitches.
"Go... to...hell... you... damned... clankers!" I yelled, shooting them all from behind. This way, they can't see me, but I can see them. It's a clear shot, since all of them are shooting the wrong way.
By the time most of them realised I'd come through to the other side, I'd already fired their way and they were microseconds from being blasted into the next century. My momentary advantage wore off in about a minute and a half, and I wove around and in between the remaining droids, shooting them all out of the sky.
Something felt weird, though - like there were too few droids.
"(Y/n), a little help here!" Anakin yelled through the radio, and suddenly it all made much more sense. Maybe the fed droids couldn't tell what I did, but their CO, the tactical droid, probably could. Likely, he'd ordered them all onto Anakin as a way of at least getting one of us eliminated.
"Don't worry, my pretty little damsel in distress, your knight in shining armour has arrived."I teased, flying towards him. I kept a steady distance, as if I hadn't been summoned - the best strategy is always playing dumb.
And then, I shot at the droids pestering Anakin.
"A little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more...." He asked through gritted teeth, waiting for a window of opportunity. I heard him yelp as his fighter was rocked on its axis, hit by a couple of bolts from the droids.
"There's too many of them! What are we going to do?"Anakin asked me, worried.
"Isn't this good enough?" I asked. There were atleast 2 dozen droids less than when I first got here. "They're starting to come my way now!"
"Just a minute - Daddy's got something up his sleeve too." He grunted, and I could see him weaving around one of the droids like a madman. What is he even doing?
"Anakin, what the fark?!" It's like he's trying to commit suicide now! What is his plan?!He never keeps me updated.
"I'M TALKING TO THE DROID!" He hollered, omerely leaving me with more questions than answers. I saw him shooting randomly at the droid ship, until all of a sudden, a string of colourful and exotic curses fell from his lips. My eyes widened - in my limited experience with him, he never seemed to be a swearer kind of person. What changed now? I've never even heard pirates swear that horribly.
"(Y/N), RUN! KRIFF, THIS IS ISNT WHAT I INTENDED TO DO, FARK, THIS IS GOING SO HORRIBLY WRONG - TURN AROUND AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN AND GET AWAY FROM HERE!"
"You're not making any sense!" I yelled, still shooting confusedly at the droids. Huh?
"(Y/N), GO! ASK QUESTIONS LATER!" He hollered back, nearly breaking my eardrums, as he nudged the wing of my starfighter with his. Consumed by the chaos, I barely noticed what I was doing as I thrusted forward, accelerating away from the few remaining droids.
My poor engine.
A few seconds later, I felt our ships being pushed outwards by a large blast of energy. It was almost as if the blast was right behind me - the pressure exceeded my stability, and it threw me forward until I collided with Anakin. The nose of my fighter bumped into the top of his cockpit and I tugged as hard as I could on my controls to steady it, letting go of the accelerator, biting my lip as I laboured to stabilise my balance.
The momentum of my ship kept me moving forward, but I quickly activated my reverse thrusters and drag flaps, allowing me to slow it down. Once my ship was no longer spinning like it was in a washing machine, I turned it around to face Anakin.
We were just close enough that I could make out the shape of him in his cockpit. I turned around to face the source of this explosion, and I could the very droid Anakin had been circling had just exploded, consuming nearly everything in a 5 mile radius. The explosion was triggering several other secondary explosions, and the fuel tanks of the ships caught in the blast were set aflame from the heat and pressure.
If I hadn't moved, I'd be dead. If Anakin hadn't nudged me away, I'd be dead.
All I could hear over the radio was heavy breathing.
"You wanna... explain what that was now?" I asked sullenly.
"It was a mistake." Anakin said very plainly. "The droid wasn't a fed droid, for some reason. It was a better one. One of those fancy advanced ones, and I wondered what it was doing there since it couldn't have been an accident. But then it pulled me in with a mini tractor-beam to get a better shot at me. Sometimes you can get out of them by flying erratically, and that's what I did. But I accidentally shot at it in my haste, and it landed in the fuel tank."
"You... shot it in the fuel tank?" I asked. Don't get me wrong, it's theoretically a great idea because it means that it eliminates them with little to no effort. But in practie, it's very risky because, as almost happened with us, you can get yourself killed in the process. Altogther, it's not worth it, thus I couldn;t wrap my head around why Anakin would want to do that.
"I didn't mean to. And those ships are run on dilute coaxium. I knew it would be disastrous as there's no guarantee that you'll be able to make it out of there in time."
"I mean... atleast you took out all of the droids."
"Couldn't have done it without you either. I owe you one."
"And I you, for saving my shebs back there. Regardless of the circumstances behind it, if you hadn't nudged me with your wing, I would never have reacted in time to escape the explosion; I barely escaped as it was. If it wasn't for you, I'd be a shrivelled up, burnt piece of meat right now. I owe you one too. We're even."
Anakin chuckled, moving out of my frame of vision. "It was a good escape, though. Nice manoeuvering, I saw how you pulled her up and deployed the drag measures. Not anyone can control a spiralling fighter like that and bring her steady so quickly, especially when they just knocked into someone else. That's some pretty neat flying, I'm impressed."
"Thanks." I've heard stories about his legendary flying - maybe I haven't seen it in action yet, but I'll take this as a huge compliment coming from someone they call the best star pilot in the whole galaxy. I'm sure he knows what he's talking about.
"We should go back and support the Venator." Anakin explained. "They're going to need all the help they can get." He turned around, heading for the forward assault.
"You're right," I told him, following suit, "We're in fighters, so we can turn around and target their guns."
"That's too risky. If you get caught in the crossfire, that's game over." Anakin disagreed.
Heh. That's ironic coming from someone who constantly dives headfirst into danger with no regard for his safety or wellbeing.
"We have to do what needs to be done." I snapped. "Don't act like you've never tried something suicidal before."
"I'm heading for the top left corner." Anakin informed me. "There's a lot of firepower concentrated over there. Come with?"
"Can't. I'm doing something about the firepower." I said matter-of-factly, whirling around and dipping.
"(Y/n)!" He yelled. "Turn around! Come back here!"
I continued dead ahead.
"Oh, kriff this. You're so karking impossible, (y/n). You're going to get yourself killed, you know!" he yelled after me.
Maybe I am. Probably not, though.
All of a sudden, my starcomm beeped, informing me of a foreign transmission. I toggled the switch, allowing the call to be patched through.
"This is Commander Silver of the 118th. General (y/l/n), do you copy?" My radio crackled.
Silver? I didn't expect that. Master Windu told me he had volunteered my battalion for this battle, but it completely slipped my mind
"Affirmative. This is General (y/l/n). What's your position?"
"Coming up directly behind you, General - I see your fighter in front of me. I have the Iron Squad up and ready, awaiting your command."
Iron Squad - the 118th's apex air squad. It has some of my best pilots and most accurate shooters : Silver, Teddy, Nigel, Krypton, Alan and Hades, in chronological order.
Hades may have sloppier than usual aim, but somehow, he's effective. That's how he earns his spot on Iron Squad.
"Take your positions in Formation 3, please. Iron 1, Iron 4, come up ahead and take my flank; Iron 2, Iron 6, at the rear. Our mission is to destroy the guns on the Federation ships concentrating the the reverse forward assault. Follow my lead. Oh, and if General Skywalker beams you anything retransmit that to me."
"Roger that. In position, Iron Leader." Silver told me, chuckling. He doesn't know about this weird on-and-off rivalry/almost besties dynamic we have going, but he knows me.
"Good. Right flanker, what do your quantum detectors sense?" I asked.
"Not much yet, General." Krypton declared. "I don't think we're in range yet."
"You're right." I said, gritting my teeth. "Hold steady, boys, we're going in."
No one said anything; everyone is focused on our mission.
"Rear, flank, you're my main gunners." I commanded as we started to reach the bottom of the front most Federation ships. "Everyone else, you're secondary firepower; cover us while we're vulnerable!"
"Copy that, Iron Leader!" They chanted in unison. We all spiked together - like we've practiced hundreds of times - and aimed directly for the anterior guns. Under the weight of our combined assault, they didn't last long at all, exploding into bits in a few seconds.
"Well done you guys." I cheered, as the rest of my men whooped over the comm set. "Let's keep up the good work, shall we?"
*
"You're insane. Like, literally. Full on psycho." Anakin groaned as me and the Iron Squadron pulled closer. "Even I wouldn't go on such a stupid mission."
"I think you've finally met your match, Skywalker." I chuckled.
"As soon as we get to Coruscant I'm going to Obi Wan and wail about how sorry I am." He joked. "I think I finally understand now."
"You do that," I told him, smiling as I thought of the look on Obi Wan's face, "but I doubt you'll stop being the reckless Hero With No Fear. Besides, where to next? I think there's reinforcements covering every area of the battlefield now."
"Maybe comm the bridge? Hang on, I'll do it - this is General Skywalker and (y/l/n) reporting in. Where are we needed?" Anakin said over his starcomm.
Just then, I received an incoming call, too. I patched it through and disconnected from Anakin.
"This is Alpha Squad at position N500976,W167234! If any squads are available, we need back up, stat!"
"Iron Squad, can you take that?" I asked over radio. Silver probably heard the transmission too, so I don't need to repeat it for him.
"Affirmative, Iron Leader. Are you coming with us?"
"I'm not sure. I'll follow if I'm not needed anywhere else, but don't expect me."
"Roger that. Over and out." Silver acknowledged, before zooming off with the rest of the air strike squad in formation.
"(Y/n), the Bridge wants us at the rear end of the battle. They've got patchy signals and they say somethings jamming it, like an electromagnetic field or something. I'm taking a look. Coming?"
"Copy that. Affirmative, I don't like the idea of you going alone."
"You know, the officer who's responding to our calls. He doesn't seem a particularly nice kind of guy. He never says 'thank you' or 'bye'. Just commands - all go here and go there." Anakin mocked.
"Be nice." I scolded. "You're like that one 911 operator who got fired for complaining, "I give them my all and die for them, but they can't even say 'thank you' when they call." "Come on, let's go check this anomaly thing out, and hope that the EM doesn't kill us."
"Wow, you're one hell of an optimist." Anakin chuckled, saying nothing about my reprimand.
*
"There's nothing here." I said curiously over comm. "Why would they lead us here for nothing?"
"Wait, there's a ship, but it looks unmanned." Anakin pointed out. "And it's tiny. Do you want to go check it, or shall I?"
I peered out through my windshield. "I think I can handle that, Skywalker. Hang back. Something about this makes me uneasy anyways."
"Sure thing, cupcake."
I cautiously approached the ship, not daring to go too quickly but too intrigued to stay away.
"What do you see?" Anakin questioned.
"It's nothing. It's just a ship with a very powerful signal jammer-"
A Code Black message opened over radio, catching me off guard. It was the same officer from Luminara's bridge before - "Attention. The Separatists have created a new weapon, capable of shooting a Venator Class Destroyer or similar out of the sky. It's currently being charged in the orbit of Bespin, roughly 50 klicks from the surface of the planet. It's got generators, and the weapon can be nullified if we can destroy it in time. However, intelligence reports that we don't have much time - we need to evacuate this cruiser. I request all cruisers to be on standby for escape pods and for anyone who can get the the generators as quickly as possible to try to turn it off. Officer Holden, over and out."
"Come on." I told Anakin. "We might not be able to help any refugees, but we might be able to get to that generator in time."
Anakin didn't bother responding - I could sense what he was going to do with the Force, just as he could with me.
Both of us dove for the orbit, using our scanners to look for any heat coming off of these generators. For something of that size, it's got to be huge and give off tons of heat. There's no way we can miss this.
"There! I've got a lock on it. Bearing of 056 from here, 30 degrees south." Anakin said, diving suddenly. I followed him - I didn't expect to be backup, I have full faith that he can do this, but I'll cover him, just in case. He needs to focus on the mission - that's his job. Protecting him, is mine.
It seemed like the Force itself accelerated his fighter, as it seemed to accelerate behind its normal capacity, just for him. Maybe it's because he has the raw kind of talent that lets him control his ship so perfectly, or because the he's channeling the Force to aid him, or both.
I spotted the generators coming up ahead of us, too - they looked dangerously charged and we could see the energy gathering in its core : flashing so bright you couldn't look directly into the heart of the machine, nor could you even get close without feeling the effect
.Anakin's course didn't waver for even a second, going straight for the generators until they were in range. I could tell the machine was seconds from firing, and I worried that we wouldn't make it in time, or worse.
All of a sudden, Anakin decided he'd had enough and shot for the generators, and then... the machine let out the giant blast of energy.
This not only shot up and out into the skies, but another wave also came from the generator Anakin had just annihilated - triggering another huge explosion which consumed all of its surrounding machinery. It released a huge recoil shockwave of energy which rocked our shops in their steady orbits.Anakin's ship was pushed backwards by a surge of energy, and I pulled him out of his spiralling course using the Force.
Looking up to the skies, Luminara's cruiser trembled, crumbled, and fractured at the middle, but all of the lights seemed to be turned off and it appeared to be empty to us, anyways. Minimal damage.
"You did it." I whispered to Anakin.