If you haven't read the prologue, please do.
If you have, thank you very much, I appreciate it. Here's a cookie 🍪
Anyways, here's the first chapter:
Kara leaned over the control panel, yelling orders at the droids at the dashboards around her. They frantically hit buttons, making the ship open fire on the Republic cruiser ahead of them.
"Ma'am, they're returning fire," a B1 said, its squeaky voice irritating her.
"You think I can't see that?" Kara demanded before turning around and settling into the chair in the centre of the command room. "Keep shooting."
The cruiser shook as the shields went down, and the droids started to panic. She rolled her eyes and shouted, "What are you doing?"
"Ma'am, we're transferring power to the emergency shields!" The B1 from before informed her, hitting a button.
"No. Put that power into weapons," Kara ordered, much to the dismay of the droids.
"Ma'am?" They questioned.
"Do it."
They did as she said, flipping switches while she watched the Republic cruiser shudder and shake as it was hit with their attacks. Her lips turned upward at the thought of all the people running around panicking with nothing they could do.
"Ma'am, their engines are disabled," the B1 told her.
"Cease fire," Kara commanded, watching the enemy ship smoke as it started to fall into a nearby planet's atmosphere.
The droids at the stations looked up in confusion. They couldn't process why she would do that when she could kill an entire ship of enemy soldiers.
"General, are you certain this is the wisest choice?" The tactical droid next to her asked, finally speaking up.
Kara narrowed her eyes at it. "I'm certain."
"Ma'am, in case you're unaware, that's the enemy ship. Our task is to eliminate our enemies."
"An in case you're unaware, there are two Jedi on board," Kara explained, closing her eyes with a sigh. "Why would I kill them? I could hand them over to Count Dooku to interrogate."
"You believe yourself able to capture not one, but two Jedi?" The tactical droid asked, stepping to her side.
Kara laughed. "I could, or I could have them surrender when we land."
"Surrender?" The tactical droid repeated.
"Yes," Kara said in exasperation, tying her long black hair back. "Jedi are so soft, all you have to do is threaten to kill the lives of those clones and they'll hand themselves right over."
"Shall we begin our descent now?" A droid asked.
"Obviously." Kara snorted. "What, you just wanted to wait around until they got rescued?"
They landed on a grassy plain, the ramps slowly lowering. Kara's battalion rolled out, droid after droid marching down onto the soil of the new world.
"Here's the plan!" Kara yelled, putting her grenades into the satchel at her waist. "You clear a path to the Jedi. I get there, negotiate their surrender, and we take them to our ship!"
"Is that all? You're notorious for your complicated strategies, yet this is your plan?" The tactical droid looked down at her, and if it had a mouth, it would be frowning at her.
"Yes, that's my plan," Kara said pleasantly before scowling slightly. "Are you insulting your General?"
"Of course not, ma'am!" The tactical droid said and stepped away from her. "I would never do such a thing."
Kara gestured to the field in front of them. "That's what I thought. Now lead the way to the crashed Republic cruiser."
Kara was in the crowd of the first wave, hiding amongst them. They approached the Republic cruiser, where the survivors of the crash were scrambling to prepare themselves for the incoming attack.
Kara issued the command, and the waves of droids rushed forward, blaster fire erupting as both sides began to fight.
Kara dodged shots as they came at her, never once returning the attack.
Until a shot grazed her shoulder.
"You son of a bantha!" Kara cursed, glaring at the clone who was responsible for the wound she now sported. She threw a disk from her pocket and watched as it embedded itself in his arm.
"You think this is going to stop me?" The clone asked in disbelief, staring down at the disk in his arm. "This is just a scratch."
Kara carefully observed him as he fell to his knees, his body beginning to shake.
"That disk holds a poison that I engineered myself!" Kara hissed as she crouched next to him. She rolled him over and removed his helmet so she could watch his eyes roll into the back of his head. "Don't worry, it won't kill you. I save the deadliest ones for people who matter, not just some random man on the battlefield."
He began to foam at the mouth.
"You'll be left unfit for battle for the rest of the month," Kara said, slipping his helmet back on and standing up. She left him lying on the dirt.
"General, the Jedi have moved to the front lines and are defending the wounded," a droid reported.
Kara smiled. "Excellent."
"There's a problem with your plan," the droid told her. "They have a clone fighting with them who is doing a decent job defending them. If you want to get to them, you have to take him out."
Kara fished around in her satchel and pulled out a grenade. "I'll handle it."
She lay on her stomach, hiding behind a bush as she watched the Togruta and the clone Captain fight together.
Weren't there two Jedi?
"General Madden, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Kara froze, slowly turning to face a brown haired man with a lightsaber in his grip. He wore Jedi robes and she recognized him as Anakin Skywalker.
"What are you doing?" Anakin asked, eyes flicking to the grenade in her hand, then his comrades fighting below them at the base of the hill. "Ah, you were going to kill my Padawan and my Captain."
Kara lifted her chin. "I wasn't going to kill them. Merely disable them."
Anakin cocked his head. "Then that's what I'll do to you."
"Excuse me?" Kara raised an eyebrow.
He lunged forward and slammed the hilt of her weapon into the side of her head. She fell unconscious, crumpling to the floor.
~Anakin~
He picked up her body and carried her down to where Rex and Ahsoka were. Rex gave him a questioning look, glancing at the General in his arms in confusion.
"She's their General," Anakin hastily explained. "Now that we have the General, they'll retreat soon."
"Master, why didn't you just kill her?" Ahsoka asked, cringing at her own words.
"You haven't heard of her? She's the brains behind a lot of the Separatist strategies. If we manage to get information from her on their weaknesses, it might give us an edge." Anakin handed her over to Rex, freeing himself to use his lightsaber to defend them from any blaster bolts.
"What do I do with her?" Rex uncomfortably asked and shifted the limp woman so her neck wasn't twisted at an odd angle.
"Take her back to the ship," Anakin ordered. "We'll push back the droids, then regroup. Comm me when she wakes up."
Rex nodded and jogged off, while Anakin and Ahsoka gave their men the new orders. Anakin turned his focus back to the battle, slashing through any droid that crossed his path.
"Master, do you really think she'll give us the information?" Ahsoka asked him, stabbing a B1.
"We can certainly hope," Anakin replied, though doubt stirred in him. "Although... I've heard some things about her."
"What things?" Ahsoka eagerly asked.
"I've heard that she experiments on prisoners to perfect those poisons of hers." Anakin used the Force to send a couple of droids flying into each other.
"Oh that's terrible!" Ahsoka gasped.
Anakin frowned. "Let's just hope she cooperates with us."
Thank you very much for reading!