An: IM SO SO SO sorry about the long wait. RL has once again caught up to me. *Sigh* Oh well, I hope this makes up for it!
Please ignore any spelling errors, I typed this chapter on my mom's ipad, and for some odd reason it doesn't have spell check. I think its all spelled right, but then again I usually do.
Thanks for the reviews! La'ienth, Jedi Angel 001, Hi, BurnedSpy, Whitetigerwolf, RFK22, Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay, SARABABE215, HermioneandMarcus, and Being4 !
The explosion shook the air around them. Anakin, who had been leading a group of clones forward to take the nearest section of the city had felt the warning form the force only seconds before the blast ripped the sky and shook the ground. He had force lept into the air, misjudged the timing and been thrust violently by the impact, causing him to fall in a very un-Jedi-like manner face first into the loose dirt surrounding the destroyed city.
He gasped and shoved himself to his feet, scanning the area around him. Most of his men were struggling to their feet, but Anakin could feel through the force that there were less of them than there had been a few seconds ago.
He looked back to were he had come from, to where the explosion had taken place. His stomach twisted into a horrible tight knot. He could see the smoke rising just over the hill where he had just come from. There were dozens of clones in that area, not to mention many of his fellow Jedi.
He forced himself to focus on the area in front of him. He forced himself to remember what he was supposed to do.
After the last mission that had quickly turned into a fiasco, he couldn't afford to mess this one up as well, not to mention the freedoms of the planet and his men's lives were in his hands.
He would be lying if he said that he hadn't been slightly excited when he had gotten his assignment to this region of the galaxy, to aid in the fighting. It was in his nature, he couldn't help it. He loved the action packed missions, and he craved the adrenaline rush.
He had spent the last of his probation in utter boredom. He had sparred, meditated, studied, meditated, and then meditated some more, all on the council and his master's orders, of course. After Myler had left, so had most of his other friends. In just a few short weeks the war had escalated to a point where every available Jedi was being used. There had been a heated discussion in the council chamber one day when a young knight who was fighting in the outer rim, and who knew of Anakin and his abilities, had called in a panicked daze begging for back up and requesting the council to let Skywalker off his probation early, as his abilities were desperately needed. The council had instantly sent in more clones and had rearranged a few other Knights fighting in the surrounding areas, but the knights request of Anakin was denied. It had been very close. Quite a few Masters were more than willing to let him off his probation, but Master Yoda stood firm on the issue. "Release my Padawan you will not! Learned his lesson he has not! my responsibility he is, and my job it is to decide when fot for action of a Jedi he is!" It was truly one of the more entertaining arguments Anakin had witnessed in the Council Chambers, even if he had been disappointed with the outcome.
He ran forward, propelled by the force. Colors and sounds were a blur around him. He slashed and swung his bright blue saber in an arc. The air was thick with smoke and dirt and screams of battle. He hoped that his men were still behind him.
He focused intently on the small doorway he had to get through. He had not yet failed as a commander and this wasn't going to be the day he let his fellow Jedi down.
The job was far easier than he anticipated. with a few rounds of blaster shots from his troopers, they were through. He surveyed the inner wall of the city. It was in ruins, and it was almost chaos. He would have described it as an organized mess. The few droids that had managed to get through the wall and survive Anakins attack were quickly being cut down by the sheer number of people inside. There were groups of clones everywhere, going in every direction, military supplies lay in muddy heaps all over, and civilians desperately tried to get further into the city and reenforce there homes. The sight was slightly sickening.
He finally spotted the comunication headquarters that some of the other Jedi had set up under a mostly broken down building. He jogged toward them, ordering his men to join one of the other passing groups that appeared as though they could use some renforcements.
As he entered the make-shift shelter, he noted that Master Mundi was running this area. He quickly walked forward, ready to offer his services. Master Mundi was on the com link speaking urgently to someone.
"No, I have no idea." There was a garbled reply that Anakin couldn't make out "Are you sure? That area was perfectly secure an hour ago." There was a pause then a frustrated noise on the other end of the com. "We would have noticed a group that size." There was another tense moment, then Master Mundi finally said "Alright, Ill just leave you in charge of that. Theres a lot going on down in this sector, but if you need troops, dont hesitate to com me, ill send some." another pause and Master Mundi grinned. "Yes, may the force be with you."
Stowing his comm in his pocket, he turned to face the doorway and spotted Anakin for th first time.
Anakin, who was practicly bouncing from impatience and curiousity, was absolutely itching to get out back onto the battldfield with his troops, but was momentarily more interested in the conversation that had been taking place via comm.
"Skywalker, im glad your here. We have been desperate for commanders. The troops we have, but there are just too many different areas that need covered for the few of us that are here." He seemed frazzled and extremely tired, Anakin noted slightly worriedly.
He wondered just how difficult this region was, and guiltily wished he had done the proper research on this system, or had at least payed more attention to Master Yodas debriefing before he had left.
Master mundi gestured for the knight to follow him. Anakin quickly obeyed, they weaved in and out of the mass of people inside the city wall. Clones, civilians, republic military volenteers, and the occasional Jedi.
They entered another room of the headquarters. Anakin recognized a few other fellow Jedi but didn't stop to chat as Mundi was quickly leading to the opposite side of the room. A small mobile holo-map projector stood in the corner, Master Mundi pulled it out and turned it on, projecting a hologram of the planet into the air. Anakin could see where they had marked where the battles had and where taking place.
"Alright, quick lesson." He began to point at the hologram in different areas. "We have sure control, here and here. We have taken the major cities in both of these sectors. This is Master Windu's headquarters. The Seperatists have hold on the cities in these three regions. The fighting is currently taking place here, here, and here." He was speaking so fast that Anakin was certain that after he got stared fighting that he would retain none of this information, but he nodded his understanding anyway.
"Now we need your assistance here." He indicated a section of the planet near the base of the mountains. Anakin nodded. "This City, Cleronda, is a major holding of the Seperatists. It's not their Headquarters, but we believe, from the amount of traffic that comes through there, that they have a major supply bank somewhere in the city or in the mountains nearby. We already have control of the in and out going ships, We have had for a while now. Originally we figured they would eventually fizzle out, but they have kept going strong, which means-"
Anakin cut him off in understanding "They're getting supplies from somewhere on planet."
"Exactly, we believe that if we hold this city, capture their supplies and find out where its coming from, they wont be able to continue holding the planet for much longer and will be forced to retreat."
He stood up straight. "I'll get going straight away."
Master Mundi sighed. "Master Tur is in charge of this attack. He and several other Jedi have several commands of troops several miles away from the city. In the encampment, at the south end of this region, Knight Ross is waiting with his troops. He will accompany you there."
Swallowing his instinctual annoyance Anakin nodded and began to turn away when he spotted something else on the hologram. The one section Master Mundi had not specifically told him what was going on in, the one Master Mundi was staring at with a look of concern.
"Master" Master Mundi started and turned to look at him questioningly. "What is that Region, the one with the river? I don't think you said."
"Oh," Looking slightly surprised and alarmed at the same time, Mundi turned to study the section. Then slowly turned back to Anakin, obviously thinking quickly. "I'm not in charge of that region, Master Windu is in that area right now." He then gestured for Anakin to go.
Anakin silently obeyed, even though his curiosity had not been quenched. Slightly annoyed at the fact that Master Mundi had not answered his question, he turned his attention to finding Knight Ross.
Knight Ross was a few years older than him. From what he had heard, Ross was an excellent strategist, a decent saber fighter, but was a bit short on force reliability.
He clenched his teeth and gripped the controls of the transport tighter. He was now discovering that Ross also apparently never shut up. Anakin was never one to shy away from conversation, but this guy made Anakin look like a mute. 10 minutes into the flight Anakin was wishing he had been assigned anybody else to work with, even Master Windu would have been better than this. He was beginning to understand some of the stuff he heard about this guy from the council sessions he wasn't supposed to have listened in on.
Ross chattered on in a loud hyperactive sort of way about something that Anakin wasn't really listening to. He had stopped caring about the conversation a long time ago, and then had stopped even pretending to listening, Ross didn't notice. Anakin knew he was being rude, but as long as Ross didn't notice, Anakin didn't care.
Anakin was checking some of the readings on the controls when Something Ross said floated across his brain and made him stop. But it took a moment for Anakin's brain to catch up with Ross' rapid commentary.
"... with this attack I probably should have stayed, but then they wouldn't have had enough for this attack. I suppose the Masters know what they are doing, it doesn't really matter to me where Im stationed. I'v been here for weeks, all the cities are basically the same smelly, dirty. Those Seps really don't know how to take care of a city."
"What?" Anakin shouted, turning to face him.
"Yeah, I know. If your gonna take over a planet, you should at least take good care of the cities and people. What use is a planet to you if you're just going to burn it down."
"No No NO!" Anakin Shouted impatiently. "The bit before that, about the attack."
Ross thought for a moment. Then his face lit up as he launched into his tale. "Oh Yeah, the River City! Don't tell me you havent heard about that yet? Its all over the comm." Ross waved a comm link around in the air.
Anakin paused for a moment to wonder bitterly who had given this guy the ability to contact any master instantly, and he hadn't. But he forced down his bitterness and focused on Ross' words.
"I was Stationed there for weeks under the command of Knight Kenobi."
Anakins stomach seemed to disappear, Obi was on this planet? Why hadn't anyone told him?
"They thought it was a secure area, so they started sending all the extra troops and commanders to the areas that needed them, That's why I ended up with Master Mundi."
"But the attack. YOu said there was an attack! What happened?" It was all Anakin could do not to crash the transport.
"But that's it." Ross said shrugging. "No ones sure. All the communications out for that region."
"Communications go out all this time." Anakin said frowning. Why didn't they just send someone to check on it.
"Not through the force they don't. And it's not just Jedi Communications, all communication systems are out for the whole city. They would send someone in, but that area is really remote, and they can't spare a large enough group, just in case the city has been taken. " Ross shrugged "Master Windu has been given charge of the situation while Master Mundi has taken charge of this. Though I suppose Master Tur is actually in charge of this..."
Ross began to prattle on again. Anakin was in deep thought. Silent through the Force? That was never good. And they wernt doing anything becasue they couldn't send enough clones to make a difference. He spotted Master Tur's group in the distance, it was a good size, and here he was with a transport full of clones going to join a group that was already well prepared. He was certain he had enough power just on this transport to take the River City if neccessary. Besides Obi could be in huge danger.
He vaguely heard from the side of him Ross say "Arn't you supposed to start the descent now Anakin?"
Looking down he noticed that he was gripping the controls so hard that his fingers were turning white.
AN: Cliffhanger! Sorry, please don't hurt me. I had to do at least one.
Also Im so sorry about the month long wait. Who knew getting ready for college was so time consuming? Also in preparation for the Hobbit, I have dragged out my Lord of the Rings stuff and plan to read it before the movie. Anyone else Excited? Yes I am a geek! :)
Don't worry, I leave for college in a few days and Im certain that I will drown my homesickness sorrows in Fanfiction and a box of chocolates. :)
Please Review!