Chapter 2 on board the Negotiator
Amira's POV
After we landed on the destroyer Master Kenobi led me to my room to drop off my things and then walked with me to the bridge. Only a few words were passed between us but I could tell that Master Kenobi wanted to say more and ask more questions.
"Where are we going to help Master Skywalker?" I quietly ask causing Master Kenobi to jump slightly at my sudden question. He turned his gaze down to me with an air of surprise that swept over his features.
"We are heading to Valencia to help Anakin and his Padawan break a blockade that the Separatists have surrounding the planet, from there we will go to the surface and help liberate the planet with the help of Master Unduli take back the capital." He stated as we entered the bridge. I nodded and tried to push down the worrying the starting building up in my chest. In the center of the room was a holostation where a few people were standing including Commander Cody. As we approached I noticed that Cody did not have his helmet on and his face was illuminated by the holostation. He had strong facial features as does any clone but he had cut his hair in a buzz cut fashion to give him a clean look and a light scar the traced around his eyebrow and the side of his eye. He turned his attention toward us as we approached and made eye contact with me, a spark of curiosity lit his eyes when they met mine and I could faintly feel my ears heat up at the tips. I gave him a soft smile and turned my attention to the hologram that everyone was talking about.
"Their base is heavily guarded by the natural outcrop of the canyon it is going to be difficult to breach their defenses." Cody said and pointed out in the hologram. "There is going to be only one way in and one way out of that area, and I don't think we have the man power to push all the way through."
I peered down at the hologram and studied the surrounding walls that was pointed out before and noticed something interesting about the structure of the fortress. "The way that they built the wall they didn't take into account the rock structure of the canyon, there are small openings in the walls that look like cave systems, we could utilize these smaller openings."
Mater Kenobi and Cody both turned to me in surprise and then looked back at the hologram and back at me. I blushed under the sudden gain of attention and let some of my bangs slide down to hide my cheeks. Suddenly the hologram was interrupted with the image of Master Skywalker and a younger Jedi next to him.
That must be his Padawan.
"Master, we have broken the blockade it is clear for us to land and begin our ground assault." Master Skywalker stated with a grin on his face. I saw his eyes flicker towards me and I saw a flicker of emotion that I could not tell through the hologram.
"We will meet you done there Anakin, be prepared we have come up with a plan that you will find most interesting deal with that fortress." Master Kenobi replied and nodded in my direction to give me some credit to the plan. Master Skywalker merely nodded in return and the transmission ended. "We should be on our way, by the way that was an excellent observation Amira, once we reach the surface we will scope these out under a closer inspection." Master Kenobi praised me. "We are coming out of hyperspace we should get down to the gunships now." I nodded and followed him out of the bridge.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cody put his helmet on and fall in set with me. "Nice catch Commander, that fortress has been bugging Kenobi for a few days now." I nodded my head and smiled and caught up with Master Kenobi's pace. Without turning my head I could still feel Cody watching me, turning the tips of my ears bright red again.
Once we were in the hangar Cody and Kenobi briefed the soldiers that were waiting for us and then boarded the gunships. I boarded with Master Kenobi and Cody and onto the handles above us firmly with one hand.
"This battle will be a chaotic one once we reach the RV point I know this is a big jump from quiet diplomatic missions to the front lines, I wish we had a different mission to get more situated with each other and I apologize ahead of time if this is a rough start." Master Kenobi said as he turned to me and said in a lower tone that still could be heard over the engines.
"It's quite alright Master, when Master Fisto said that was going to be your Padawan he trained with me to make sure I was comfortable with blaster fire and battle droids. Though to be honest I am a little nervous about being in battle, the only battle that I have ever been caught up in is a political battle and they can get a little out of hand at times." I say sheepishly and laugh a little bit. Master Kenobi smiled and chuckled a little bit as well. By the sudden turbulence I could tell we entered the atmosphere and we were being fired at by cannons. It was at this time Master Kenobi started to yell over the engine noise telling the others that we were going to meet up with Master Skywalker and to be prepared for anything when we land. No sooner when he ended his speech the doors opened and every got out. I made a bee line to catch up with Master Kenobi as he briskly walked over to Master Skywalker and his Padawan. I came to a short halt and quietly walked up next to Master Kenobi as he was talking with Master Skywalker.
"…We should spilt up our forces so that we can have two different attack points in the canyon, one from the ground and one from the canyon wall." Master Kenobi stated and gestured toward a mini hologram. Master Skywalker nodded in thought of the plan and he had yet to notice me. I lightly cleared my throat lightly to get Master Kenobi's attention. He turned and smiled and side stepped to let me into the conversation.
"Anakin I would like you to meet my new Padawan, Amira Ballista." I smiled and bowed slightly to Master Skywalker. Again I noticed the same flicker of emotion in his eyes and face that I still can't pinpoint. He nodded briefly and turned towards his Padawan and gestured for her to come over.
"Amira this is Ashoka, Ashoka meet Amira, she is Master Kenobi's new Padawan." He said in an even tone. Ashoka smiled warmly and extended her hand to shake mine. I returned the shake and smiled shyly back. "Now that we are all introduced we have a wall to crumble." With that Master Skywalker turned on his heel and left.
"I take it I didn't make a good impression on Master Skywalker." I mumble in a low tone, which wasn't low enough as Master Kenobi picked up on it.
"Don't fret about it Amira, Anakin is just in a foul mood from the lack of progress we have made in battle so far. He will come around." Master Kenobi reassured and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and nodded and tried to move away from it but the emotion in his eyes still stuck with me. Before I could get lost in my thoughts I saw a clone with blue markings on his armor running toward us. He stopped short and saluted all of us, Master Skywalker nodded for the clone to continue.
"Sir, we have the men and the rocket launchers ready when you are, and trust me they are ready for a fight." He said and nodded toward the ATET behind him where a squad of clones readying rockets were.
"Excellent captain, we will be departing in a few minutes. Ashoka, I want you and Amira to go with them up on the fortress and set the charges, Anakin and I will draw most of the attention off of both of you." Master Kenobi said and moved to where Master Skywalker walked off to. Ashoka and I both nodded and started to head over towards the clones with the clone captain.
"Amira," I turned back towards Master Kenobi, "May the force be with you."
I nodded, "May the force be with you as well Master."
Kenobi's POV
I watched Amira and Ashoka walk over to the clones with a twinge of guilt. It is already her first mission and I have yet to get to know Amira, I hope she will be okay on this mission. Shaking the thought away from my mind I walk over to Cody and Anakin to start the march towards the fortress. I could sense negative feelings coming off of Anakin.
"Care to tell me what is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong Master, what would make you say that."
"Well for one I could tell you are not very keen about Amira for starters."
"Oh, you mean the shy one, she seems like she will fine as long as she doesn't get in my way."
"Anakin what is that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes as his comment and set a little ice in my voice.
"Oh nothing, just don't want your little Padawan to get hurt, this is her first mission after all."
"I don't like your tone Anakin what has gotten into you?" I question and step towards him with my arms crossed. Before Anakin could retort Cody had cleared his throat to get our attention.
"Sorry to interrupt generals, but we are ready to start towards the fortress."
Turning to look at him I saw Ashoka and Amira a little ways behind him both caught up in a conversation. I felt a little relieved as I saw Amira smiling more. At least one of them is starting to like her. Looking back at Anakin I narrowed my eyes sending a clear message that this was to be continued. He returned the narrowed gaze and started walking away to lead the assault. Sooner or later I was going to get to the bottom of why Anakin doesn't like Amira.
Amira POV
After the unnerving encounter with Master Skywalker I was glad that Ashoka started up conversation with me and introduced everyone to me. I found out the name of the clone captain was Rex and some of the unusual members of his squad. There was Coric who was polite but was not very outgoing who seemed to share his personality with Denal. There was Hardcase who seemed to be the exact opposite, he was outgoing and slightly hyper paired with the surprisingly happy mood to be on the battlefield, and then there who Rex call the trouble twins, Echo and Fives, they were easy going guys from what I could tell but it seemed Fives lived up to the nickname more than Echo. Finally there was Kix and Jesse they seemed more mature like Coric and Denal, over all I felt like I could get along with them easily.
"So, you're General Kenobi's new Padawan, seen any battles before?" Hardcase asked as he slid up next to me, catching me by surprise. Jumping slightly I side glance at him and I sheepishly shake my head no and look down.
"This is my first time being away from the temple in over a year. Unless you count political floors a battle field then, no, I have not been on a battlefield before." I say quietly, trying to suppress a blush that was trying to lurk its way onto my cheeks. Curse being overly shy around people, this was the one thing I had hoped to get over but it seems that it has never let its grip on me. I slightly shifted away from Hardcase and tried to focus on something else other than the looming clone.
"Ease off Hardcase, you're scaring the poor kid." Jesse stepped in and stood up on my right. "Don't worry Amira this won't be too bad, we're the best of the best we won't let anything happen to you on your first mission." Looking over at Jesse I found a little bit of relief in what he said.
"Alright guys cut the chit chat it's time to move out." Rex barked and slid on his helmet with ease. Ashoka moved from her spot where she was talking with Fives and over to me.
"We should meet up with Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker before we go." Ashoka smiled as she led me away from Jesse. I turned and waved at the guys, which many gladly returned. Smiling I turn back and caught up to Ashoka by a few steps. "Is this really your first mission?"
I only nodded and turned my gaze down to the ground, which seems to be my normal stance as of now. "I went on diplomatic missions with before the war but I was never involved in any battles. Master Tauris often talked many out of battles and managed to diffuse the situation of any hostility so I never had to draw my lightsaber much. He did train with me on many occasions though, it would help him think through a problem that would be troubling him." At this point I could feel tears stinging at my eyes and threatened to spill over this time. Taking a sharp breath I try to keep my emotions from spilling over this time, this was no place to have a breakdown, battlefields should carry any emotions that are unnecessary.
I didn't have to look over at Ashoka to tell that she felt bad about bringing him up. "How about this, Master Skywalker and I always have a little competition on every mission to see who can kill the most battle droids, would you like to join?"
Blinking away the tears I look up and smile at Ashoka and nod eagerly. "I am always up for a challenge."
"Awesome, let's get going we don't want Master Skywalker to get a head start."
Later
When we got deeper into the canyon Ashoka, Rex's squad, and myself climbed up the rock face to a medium sized opening on the rock face to start working out way towards the wall in secret.
"We will give you the signal when we are in place generals." Rex said over the wristcom as we started along the tunnels.
"Good, I hope the Separatists don't mind party crashers." I heard Master Skywalker chirp back and then the line went silent. After that we all continued in silent through the caves coming out to a small opening into the canyon then back in. After a while I started to hear rocks shifting and light screeches coming from deep inside the caves.
"Do you think something lives in the caves?" I heard someone comment when we passed by a huge hole in the floor. Not having to turn I could guess it was Hardcase by the tone in his voice.
"Who knows Hardcase, but I know I don't want to stick around and find out." I heard Denal chime back as he tried to get over a boulder that was in the middle of the path. "Whose bright idea was it to climb inside the walls of the canyon, wouldn't have been better to be out in the daylight where we can see than climbing around in the dark."
I flinched slightly at the comment I knew that it wasn't a well thought through plan when I suggested it but Master Kenobi thought it was enough to warrant using it. Rex noticed my flinch and sadden expression and slapped Denal on the helmet lightly. I couldn't see them but I could tell that Rex gestured towards me, which in turn caused the rest of the guys to silence their complaints. Now I felt guiltier about the plan now that the rest of the guys knew that it was my plan.
"I mean it's not a bad plan I was just saying that there could be a different way of going about putting the plan in action Commander, I didn't mean any ill-manners." Denal apologized feeling guilty about saying anything in the first place.
"It's alright Denal I made the plan up on the spot when Master Kenobi, Commander Cody, and I were on our way here. The plan did need some more time to plan out and I would have needed time to study the area. But I have a feeling that both Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker need some kind of plan to deal with the wall that wouldn't cost them so many men." I turned so that they could all hear me better. I smile lightly to show that it wasn't affecting me too badly. Many of them shifted uncomfortably even after the fact about complaining under their breaths before. "Trust me it's alright guys we're almost there anyways and I believe there are some droids that need a little love from your rifles."
At that they all laughed and started to get higher spirits again.
"Yeah let's show those kriffing clankers a good time." Hardcase laughed in a hyper-active way and pumped his fists. Coric reached over and slapped Hardcase's helmet hard.
"Language Hardcase." He barked and then started to move on with the rest of the squad. "The Commander wasn't too fond of swearing before when we were talking so she probably isn't too fond of it now."
Author's Note: So just letting you guys know I am going to be updating every couple of days or so depending on my schedule and I might change a few things around to fit somewhat into the canon of SWTCW but overall it is going to be AU as said before. To explain I like Paplatine as a good guy, in here there is still Darth Sidious but he is not Paplatine (sorry readers) and I like the idea that popped in my head that Jedi can have companions, loved ones, significant others, whatever you want to call it.
I don't own Star Wars or Star Wars The Clone Wars that belongs Disney and all of their people
Amira, Script, and all of the other OCs are mine
