"There's the door" General Skywalker pointed his finger towards the sealed door at the end of the hall where Jedi Master Piell was being held against his will "Fives and Echo will enter first and take out any droids. There shouldn't be that many of them to worry about" the two troopers nodded at the orders and prepared their weapons for attack. Master Piell was undoubtedly present in the cell, the Jedi could sense him through the walls.
Dakota remained behind, keeping watch as Ahsoka opened the cell door and the ARC troopers rolled in, firing relentlessly at the droids present. Master Even Piell was suspended in the air by his wrists and ankles, right in the middle of being interrogated for his secret information on the nexus route. Once all of the droids had been destroyed, Anakin entered with his blue saber unsheathed and he cut the Master down from the bondage. He lowered him to the ground gently and rested him against the wall "Master Piell, are you alright?" Obi-wan asked, handing him a spare lightsaber.
"Obi-wan" Master Piell sighed breathlessly, taking the saber from his hand "What took you guys so long?"
"At least your sense of humor is still intact" Anakin helped the Master to his feet.
"It takes more than they got to break me, young Skywalker" Piell assured.
"So you have the coordinates for the nexus route?" Anakin asked.
"I got them, all right, half of them anyway. My captain's got the other half. I erased the computers when we were boarded and had both of us memorize part of the intel. That way, if somehow I cracked-" Piell kicked the decapitated head of the droid that had been interrogating him "-the information would be useless to them without the other half"
"Where's your captain?" Obi-wan stood up.
"Being held with the other officers, I assume" Piell replied, turning his attention to the other Jedi who remained standing in the hallway "Dakota, I figured you'd come on this mission" Piell spoke up to her. She broke her concentration away from keeping watch on their flank and glanced down to the Jedi Master who was strolling towards her, holding the lightsaber tightly in his grasp "considering that you still have a bone to pick with me"
She scoffed, biting the corner of her lip as she looked away "of all the conversations that we could have right now Master Piell, of all the conversations"
"I'm intrigued" Obi-wan rubbed his beard, wanting to know more of what this vague dialogue between them was about.
She motioned her thumb over her shoulder and nodded her head to the side "I'm glad to see that you're alright Master" she said genuinely "but... I think we should get going"
Rex waited beside her silently, ready for the signal to keep moving. At any minute, the droids could reappear and blast them from either end of the hallway "so now we have even more rescuing to do?" The Captain questioned to his General.
"I suppose so" she exhaled, not particularly liking where this mission was taking them. The group had to completely rearrange their escape plan by taking a detour to pick up Piell's naval Captain "the longer we're here, the more danger we're in. I don't want to lose anyone else"
"Don't worry about us clones, General, the main priority is keeping those plans intact for the Republic"
She turned her head to look at him, almost being able to see his eyes through the dark of his white and blue protective helmet. Don't worry about us clones. In a way, that annoyed her. No matter what, she'll always check to make sure that all clone troopers are present and accounted for, and that everyone makes it out alive no matter what. Casualties hurt, but not just for battle purposes, but for personal reasons as well. All life is meaningful, no matter if they all look the same "don't tell me not to worry" she said numbly "I rely on you for more than just battle strategies, Rex"
The Captain forced himself to look away, unable to meet her gaze anymore. That very same feeling coursed through him once again, which was something that he knew all too well that he shouldn't be feeling, especially now. It locked itself into place inside of his chest when he first laid eyes on her, and it always erupts at the very thought of her. None of this was right, he knew it. He needs to hold her up with the highest amount of respect that he can conjure up. But when she says things like that, and holds onto him tightly while saving him from falling to his death, how can he not feel this way?
He just needs to except that he'll have to live with this longing for the rest of his life, quietly keeping it to himself without letting anyone else in. She'll never know, because she can't ever know.
~
"We need to keep moving" Anakin waved his arm, keeping a steady pace ahead of the others. It had been several minutes since they rescued Master Piell, and they were making their way to the other cell block which contained the captured crew of the Republic star-cruiser. That is where they will locate the other half of the nexus route information. Dakota spotted a security camera up ahead and sprung into action, igniting one end of her green saber and slicing the device from the hall where it hung.
As she landed back lightly on her feet, three specialized comando droids rounded the corner of the hallway, cutting the group off from leaving. On the other end of the hall, three more comando droids blocked off the alternative exit. The team was now surrounded at both sides "oh, great" she muttered, igniting the second blade of her saber. Obi-wan ran up to stand beside her, pulling out his saber as well. Anakin and Ahsoka remained on the other side, taking care of the droids that had just arrived.
It didn't take long for them to incapacitate the newly arrived droids, the weapons that they carried with them made sure of that "We need to keep moving" Obi-wan ordered, taking the first step. That's when an earsplitting, high pitched buzzing engulfed the narrow hallway, causing everyone to cover their exposed ears at the sudden sound. Dakota felt her lightsaber slip from her grasp and levitate swiftly towards the ceiling, as if it was pulled into a magnet. Whoever overseers the functioning of the Citadel was undoubtedly watching them closely from the monitors, and keeping track of their every move. He had turned on the device built into the ceiling that pulled in objects that were made of metal, lightsabers and blasters included.
You'd think it'd stop there, but Anakin also found himself defying gravity and flying up in the air because of the metal used to construct his prosthetic robotic arm. He was pulled against the roof by the arm and stuck in place, being held securely as the rest of his body dangled down freely.
"Anakin!" Obi-wan cried up to him just as electricity began to pulse through the ceiling, attacking the Jedi Knights body without him having the means to defend himself against it.
"oooh" Dakota squinted her eyes at the sight, forming a tight distressed 'o' with her lips. Her friend was being cooked alive right before there eyes. And to top it all off, more comando droids sprang into the hallway to cut off their escape once more. This time, the team was lacking their weapons. With enemy barrels pointed at them, the odds looked to be fully against them. Dakota could only think of one more tactic, and the rest of the Jedi with her seemed to have the same idea. She extended her arms out and force pushed the droids away, but the magnets implanted into their metallic feet kept them locked to the floor "shit" she cursed in her mothers dialect, knowing that the clones were defenseless behind her.
"You fools!" an unfamiliar voice spoke out from the speakers around them "I hope you enjoyed the reunion with your fellow jedi, because you're going to be my guests for a very long time!" he chuckled to himself, sending Dakota's lip twitching in frustration as she tried yet again to force push the droids back with Obi-wan next to her. This person over the speakers is undoubtably the one behind all of this.
With Anakin above them, still being shocked by the electrical currents in the ceiling, Dakota gained a reckless idea that might potentially work, or fail, whichever comes first. She slipped behind Echo and propelled herself off from the left wall, then to the right, and back and fourth until she reached the ceiling. Ahsoka and Master Piell saw what what she was doing and covered her, moving to strike the droids without the use of the sabers. Through the bolts of electricity, Dakota stuck her hand through and grabbed the first lightsaber that she could find. The act left her body burning from the shock.
Once her grip on a saber was secure, she ignited the blue blade and drove it into the electrical device that was built into the wall. The impulses ceased and demagnetized the ceiling. Both of them fell to the ground, with Anakin far more exhausted then she was. Rex's gun fell in front of his feet and he reached down to pick it up. With haste, Dakota tossed Obi-wan his saber, which was the one that she used to free Anakin "Here you go, sir" Echo approached her, clutching her double saber in his hand "you may want this"
"I think so too, thanks" she took the saber and tightened the thin necklace that wrapped around the handle "nice job taking care of the droids"
"Are you all right?" Ahsoka asked nervously, bending down beside Anakin.
"Yeah" he rubbed the back of his head "thanks co-gen" he nodded up to Dakota.
"You-!" she squeezed her fist in frustration as he called her the nickname that he coined once again, despite her numerous protests against the name. At this point, he was just saying it to annoy her because it was comical to him. She rolled her eyes, letting it go because she knew that's what he wanted "next time I'm leaving you up there, Skywalker"
A minute later, after some bickering between the Generals, Anakin was carving his way into the cell block door that housed the rest of the captured crew that were aboard Piell's star cruiser. His saber cut through the metal and the door slid open automatically. The group then descended down the stairs into the dimly lit cell to greet the captured Republic officials. Dakota remained in the hallway with Commander Cody, keeping guard.
"Captain Tarkin" Master Piell called out to his Captain, moving to stand in front of him.
"General" the captains posh and sophisticated voice rolled from his tongue in an unimpressed tone "I never thought I'd see you again, and you brought friends" he motioned his hand to the Jedi that stood around him.
"Tarkin, this is Obi-wan Kenobi, Dakota Ky,
and Anakin Skywalker" The Master introduced
"Now that you've found us, how do you expect to get us out? If they've locked this fortress down, there's at least ten squads on their way. It's going to be impossible to escape"
"What if we split up?" Obi-wan offered "My team will create a diversion, while Anakin and Dakota lead the others away. That way, if one of us is captured, the enemy will only have part of the information and not all of it"
"General Kenobi" Tarkin pursed his lips "I think it's better if we stick together. A stronger force would have a better chance of protecting the information"
"Not in this situation" Obi-wan hid his eye roll.
"Surely we'd have more strength in numbers, rather than divide us..." Tarkin raised an eyebrow.
"Obi-wan has a point" Master Piell interrupted "I'll go with him; you go with Skywalker and Ky"
The sound of metallic footsteps clanked in the near distance. Dakota moved to stand in front of Cody, facing the direction that the noise was coming from "Less chitchatting" she said over her shoulder "do we have a plan or not?" she asked, already spotting the shadows of the droids against the hallway wall. Rex came up the stairs, preparing his blasters for the confrontation.
"We do" Obi-wan replied, standing in the door frame of the cell "be ready, it's time to go"
~
Fives and Echo pushed in unison through the freshly carved, molten hole at the exterior wall of the citadel, breaking through to the other side. What waited were long forgotten tunnels that zigzagged ruggedly along the perimeter of the tower. It was the perfect means of escape. These tunnels have long since been abandoned by the people here. Dakota stepped into the hole and out onto the ground where a flowing river of lava waited idly by on the other side, instantly filling her nostrils with the unpleasant fumes. She straightened out her back and examined the natural rock columns and the high rock ceiling that stretched on way above her head.
This was the advantage of the old archive data that the Jedi used, they'd be able to slip by under the radar of the Separatist, just like with the Carbonation tactic that masked their life signals "The tunnel's clear" Ahsoka informed, pushing forward in front of everyone to scope out the area.
"Looks like Obi-wan's distraction worked" Anakin said to Tarkin, undermining his previous doubts about the plan "Things seem to be going as planned"
"It's when things do not go as planned that concerns me. What then?" Tarkin retorted.
Anakin narrowed his eyes, stepping away from the naval Captain "It's when things don't go as planned that we jedi are at our best. Trust me"
"I reserve my trust for those who take action, General Skywalker"
"Then let me remind you" Anakin said over his shoulder "We rescued you back there.. and I reserve my trust for those who understand gratitude, Captain Tarkin"
Dakota eyed the back of Captain Tarkin's greying haired head with much skepticism as she walked at the tail of the squad. She didn't like the aura that was radiating from him. It was as if a shadow had settled over his square shoulders. He was beginning to prick under her skin and she hadn't even said a word to him. There hadn't been an ounce of gratitude within him since being rescued. Her green eyes rolled into her head at his smug facial expression "let's plug the hole before we go" Dakota paused in her tracks, motioning to Echo for his support "it's the best we can do to cover our tracks"
"We had to rescue that guy?" Fives mumbled as the General and the ARC trooper fit the circular cut out into its place on the wall. The only reason why Fives dared to say this out loud is because he understood General Ky well enough to know that she was not impressed with Captain Tarkin's behavior. He had seen her variety of eye rolls since acquiring him.
"We didn't rescue him" she got up to her feet, wiping the dirt from her knees "We rescued the information that he carries... actually, wait, no it's very un-Jedi-like for me to say that" she shook her head "protecting life is a priority, no matter how annoying said life is"
Did she truly believe what she had just said? On Sorgan, her blade was prepared to kill Savage Oppress for what he did to the village. For killing all of those people, and her.. grandmother. It wasn't the first time emotion had blinded her to the ways of the Jedi, and it won't be the last.
"Yeah, and if the seppies get ahold of the nexus route, Coruscant will be left vulnerable" Echo reminded "No amount of training on Kamino could prepare us for a battle like that"
"Has Coruscant ever been attacked before?" Fives asked, starting after the group that was already ahead of them.
"Not for thousands of years" Dakota answered, her eyes elsewhere as she spoke with the clones "During my years training as a Padawan, in our history classes we learned of a time where an agent of the Sith infiltrated the Jedi Temple, and deactivated the security grid, which allowed for the Sith to attack the planet... resulting in the death of many Jedi and civilians. There was no time for preparation"
"How can someone simply break into the temple?" Echo furrowed his eyebrows together.
"I wouldn't say it's uncommon" Dakota shrugged, being reminded of Cad Bane "it's so sacred and holy... that we forget it's vulnerability"
Just then, her senses pricked. She turned to spy over her shoulder, getting the feeling that they may are being followed by someone, or something "you sense it too?" Anakin called back to her, standing at the front with Ahsoka and Tarkin.
"Keeping going" she pointed, her eyes searching the path behind them intently "I'll take care of it"
"I don't see anything" Tarkin snarked ignorantly.
"Well that's because you aren't a Jedi" she replied nonchalantly, walking away from the group without sparing the Captain a single glance.
"Hmph, and I wouldn't want to be"
"Trust me" she narrowed her eyes, his tone aggravating her ears "neither do we"
💫
A/N: Clone Wars comes back this flipping week holy crap.