Warning: Filler chapter approaching.
TaitanoRules555: Not telling.
Edgar H. Sutter: I already have the Council Meeting planned out already. I know what I'm going to do.
Neo-Devil: Hah! If only he had that personality.
Hayden101: Nice insight.
Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Late reviews are always welcome.
Jack Spartson: We'll see.
Guest who asked about Mortal Kombat story: Not interested in franchise.
Hotrod 333: Honestly, I have no idea.
Guest 2: Thank you.
Chapter 24: Making Plans
(Medical Tent D; Close to Weapons Factory)
Why do I always end up getting injured like this? Jack thought to himself as the bacta patch on his shoulder soothed the wound. At least I'm not dead.
It had been a few hours since Jack got shot in the shoulder. What was originally a painful wound in his shoulder was now just a sore wound. It didn't hurt much when he spun his arm in a vertical circle slowly, but he decided to be extra careful when he got out there. Of course, he had to pass the medical inspection by Clyde himself, who stayed behind in order to lend an extra hand.
"Let's take a look," the medic stated, removing the patch.
Earlier, it was a gaping hole in his body. The bacta, however, was managing to regenerate his tissue quicker than humanly possible, much to Jack's surprise.
"This stuff is miracle medicine," Jack commented.
Clyde chuckled. "Lots of people say that, kid. Well, it looks like your wound is healing nicely. Shouldn't leave a scar. Try not to throw yourself in the middle of a squad of clankers next time."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Wasn't my idea in the first place."
"You're gonna be fine," Clyde assured as he put on a new bacta patch. "Let the medicine do its work and you can remove the patch in a couple of hours."
Jack, slowly, put on his shirt. "Thanks, Clyde. Where's Miko?"
"The weird-looking girl?" Clyde asked.
"Yup."
"She's sitting in the next tent over. Still a bit shook up over what happened."
Jack sighed. "Well, she just witnessed a good guy getting killed. I'll go talk to her. I'm probably one of the few people she'll listen to."
"Oh, by the way, General Secura has contacted us. Said she wanted to speak with you."
The teen's eyes widened, realizing that he never thought about reaching his Master. "Scrap. I should have talked to her earlier."
Quickly, Jack dashed out of the tent and came upon a hologram projector that contained the translucent form of Aayla Secura. She seemed to be in a conversation with Anakin and Yvana regarding recent events.
"If the Autobots never showed," Anakin explained, "it would have been harder to win."
"Thank the Force that you were able to succeed," the Twi'lek replied. "We can only hope that-." She stopped when she noticed Jack and gave him a warm smile. "Jack."
Jack smiled back and gave a polite bow. "Master. I apologize for not contacting you earlier about my return. We had a, uh…slight situation."
"You call an invasion to retake a planet a 'slight' situation?" she asked, her smile remaining.
"Good point," he conceded before really noticing that his mother was present. "Um, Master, how much has Master Skywalker told you?"
"Enough to know who your mother is, Jack," Aayla answered, getting serious. "We were hoping you could explain to us the situation."
Jack rubbed the back of his neck yet again with anxiety. "This is one of those things best saved for when we all return to Coruscant and we only have to explain in once…unless Master Obi-Wan decided to spill the story already."
"He didn't," Yvana stated with a grim look. "It wasn't that hard to convince him."
(During Autobot Assault on Shield Generator; Private Area)
"Obi-Wan, I never meant to hurt you or Mace!" Yvana exclaimed. "You have to believe me."
He gave her a cold glare. "Whether you meant to or not, you still betrayed us. Do you honestly believe that we could trust you after what you did?"
She shook her head sadly. "No, I don't. Will you be reporting me to the Council?"
"No," Obi-Wan answered. "You will stand in front of the Council, in front of Mace, and explain everything! No lies, no secrets, no half-truths. Only then will I consider trusting you."
Yvana sighed, once again wishing she had done things differently in the past. "I understand."
"Mom?" Jack questioned, noticing her in a daze. "Are you all right?"
Yvana snapped out of her flashback quickly. "Yes, I'm all right. I was explaining to them earlier about sending a gunship to pick us up and take us to Coruscant."
Jack shook his head. "Appreciate the thought, but I'm staying here until this is all over."
"Jack, you've done more than enough for us," Aayla assured. "You don't have to stay here anymore."
"I know," he replied, "but I want to stay here. If I was in worse condition, like Masters Obi-Wan and Ki-Adi, I would, but I'm not. I can still fight."
"He's right," Anakin suddenly added, much to everyone's surprise. "While we were fighting Barricade, I caught a glimpse of Jack being surrounded by a large squad of droids. Jack moved and fought like a Soresu prodigy, Aayla."
Or a Sith Lord forced me to fight like one in order to prevent his father from getting killed. The teen thought to himself. Just a thought. At least someone other than Jazz saw me.
"Impressive, Padawan," Aayla responded and paused for a moment to think it over. "You may stay until Geonosis is taken back and Poggle is captured."
Jack grinned, happy that he didn't have to argue in order to stay. "Thank you, Master. You won't regret it. I hate to go, but I need to have a chat with our stowaway. See you soon."
Anakin raised his eyebrow when he noticed Jack was walking quickly as if he was trying to get away from something…or someone. He gave Yvana a glance and noticed her staring sadly in the direction her son was going.
"I'm gonna go help with the wounded," she said, heading in a similar direction.
"It seems you've noticed what I have," Aayla pointed out once she was out of earshot.
"I've been noticing it," Anakin stated, crossing his arms. "There's a lot of tension between the two."
"Perhaps Jack was never told the truth about his heritage," Aayla suggested.
Anakin shook his head. "No, it goes deeper than that. I can understand keeping the past a secret would cause some tension, but this? This is something else entirely and I'm interested in finding out what."
Aayla gave him a disapproving look. "Skywalker, prying into the personal, and most likely painful, lives of anyone is not wise or appropriate."
"I know," the Knight replied with a sigh. "Never mind. It doesn't matter right now. What does matter is capturing Poggle. Master Luminara and her Padawan will be arriving soon. Once they do, it will be time to take down the weapons factory."
"May the Force be with you, Anakin," Aayla said before ending the transmission.
"We're going to need it," Anakin muttered to no one as he went to go find his Padawan.
(Medical Tent B)
No matter how hard she tried, Miko could not get the incident out of her mind and she sat on the cot. One moment, Breaker seemed to be having the time of his life while keeping her safe. The next, his dead body practically fell on top of her. It wasn't the first time she had seen someone die (when Silas murdered one of his men and when Jack caused the car crash), but this death felt different. It came completely out of nowhere.
A part of her believed that his death wouldn't have happened had it not been for her. If he didn't need to protect her, he would probably still be alive. She didn't face the severity out of the situation and it took a dead guy to get to her.
"Miko!" Jack's voice called out from the other side of the tent. "Can I come in?"
"Sure," she responded, trying to put on a brave face.
Her friend entered the room and gave her a concerned look. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Miko lied.
Jack wasn't fooled. "Miko, I know you're lying."
Sighing, she looked away from him, irritation creeping into her tone. "Did you come to rub it in, Jack? Come to tell me how completely wrong I was and how you told me so?"
He shook his head, sitting next to her. "No, but I do think you get the gravity of the situation now. That's more than enough for me."
"You starting to sound like an adult," Miko scoffed.
Jack gave a sad sigh. "I had to grow up early, Miko." He paused for a moment. "That's the one thing I wish didn't happen to me. If things were different, I could have lived like a regular kid until I was 18. I could have had a complete family that wasn't torn apart by tragedy, secrets, and lies, but I didn't get that."
"Is that why you were so snappy to your mother?" Miko questioned. "I never pegged you to be like that to her."
He chose his words carefully, not wanting to go into the details. "Things are…complicated now between my mother and me, Miko. I don't want to talk about it."
"So…what was the point of bringing it up?"
Jack decided to be blunt again. "You don't adapt well to situations like this and you know it. The situation here is different than it was on Earth. The Decepticons want the Autobots dead, but they all choose to hide their existence from us. Here, the droids want all of us dead whether we carry guns or not, whether we fight them or not. If you can't defend yourself, you'll die." He gave her a piercing look. "Is your family in Japan so bad that you would rather die than go back to them?"
"No," Miko replied softly, a couple of tears going down her face. "I just…don't want to be the kid that they don't know what to with. I want them to accept who I am and deal with it."
"Does the problem really lie with your family?" Jack asked, holding up his hand before she could answer. "I don't want you to answer that right now. Just think about it. In the meantime, Wheeljack is working on repairs to the Jackhammer. Can I trust you to stay here? There's still a war going on."
She nodded as he walked towards the exit, but she had one last thing to say. "Don't die out there, Jack. I don't want to lose you too."
He also gave a nod in return. "I'll come back."
(Jackhammer Crash Site)
"When I get my hands on Barricade, I'm gonna rip his spark out," Wheeljack swore as he crawled out from under his ship. "Blasted Con took out my engines. Have to replace them, and I'm not sure the Republic is willing to help right now."
"We saved their lives," Arcee pointed out, leaning against the ship. "It's the least they can do for us."
"Not what I meant," he clarified. "There's still a battle going on. They need all their resources and time during this, and helping me fix a Cybertronian fighter will only delay things for them."
A honking sound interrupted their conversation. The two Autobots saw Ironhide and Jazz transforming into robot mode once they got close enough.
"No sign of him?" Arcee asked even though she knew the likely answer.
"Barricade has vanished before," Ironhide replied, disappointed. "It won't be easy to find him on this planet."
"The sand completely muddled up the tracks and the Energon trail," Jazz added. "I hope to Primus he's rusting in pieces, but he's a tough Con. He'll bounce back soon enough, but when he does..."
"…we'll be waiting for him." Ironhide finished with a smirk. "In the meantime, Autobots, let's regroup with the Republic. Are the Jackhammer's weapons still operational?"
"Way ahead of you, Hide," Wheeljack assured. "I programmed my ship to shoot down any droid or bug that gets too curious with my ship. Better safe than sorry."
Ironhide nodded, going into vehicle mode. "Let's roll out,"
The rest of them transformed into their vehicle modes and zoomed towards the Republic outpost, but Jazz had something to say.
"Did you just say 'roll out?'" he asked. "Hide, you may be a bad aft, but you're not Optimus."
"Shut up, Jazz," Ironhide grumbled.
It wasn't hard to find Anakin and Ahsoka. They were on top of a small cliff with many clone troopers gathering around a holomap of the upcoming battle area. Jack also noticed Yvana was there, but he continued to not think about their complicated relationship at the moment. What mattered most was taking back Geonosis.
"There you are, Jack!" Anakin exclaimed as the teen made his way through the gathering. "Took you long enough. Did the Autobots get back yet?"
On cue, the four Autobots drove up to the meeting spot, three of them going next to the cliff and Arcee driving up on top of the cliff. When the trio transformed, they had a clear view of the map and the others so they didn't have to crouch. Arcee, however, wasn't as tall as the others, so she settled for getting down on one knee like the clones were doing. At least she had a vantage point.
Jack, as he leaned against the cliff wall, had to smile at the clones' startled looks when they transformed, especially since Arcee was directly behind them. They weren't quite used to them yet.
"Sorry for our tardiness, General Skywalker," Ironhide said. "Barricade is, unfortunately, still out there."
"That's going to be a problem," Ahsoka noted, concerned.
"If he comes back, we'll take care of him," Anakin assured. "In the meantime, Padawan, I believe you have a debriefing to begin."
Jack took a good look at the map that Artoo brought up, noticing the skinny bridge separating the factory from the rest of Geonosis. One slip and the unlucky sap would fall far and hard. He inwardly hoped that they wouldn't have to fight on that bridge. Too many movies proved why that would be a bad idea.
"This bridge is our first waypoint," Ahsoka informed, pointing at it. "Focus your fire on the gun emplacements here and here-," Said gun emplacements were identified by red dots. "—because it's only-!"
"Because it's only after we neutralize the guns," Anakin suddenly interrupted, "that we can push for the factory."
Ahsoka glared at him. "I was-!" She quickly composed herself. "Yes."
A couple of clones smirked at what was happening. This would be an interesting debriefing.
"We can push for the factory," Ahsoka continued. "Now, expect stiff resistance from-."
Anakin stepped in front of her and interrupted her again. "And, don't forget to top off your energy cells and ration packs. Once we leave, there will be no re-supply."
Ahsoka bared her teeth in frustration.
Jack rolled his eyes at the display. He was starting to believe Anakin loved the sound of his own voice. Before, Jack would have thrown caution to the wind and say that out loud, but he was smarter than that. He settled for helping Ahsoka when the time was right.
"Anything else, Ahsoka?" Anakin had the gall to ask.
"Yes," she answered, annoyed, "but thank you for covering most of my briefing." She looked to the Autobots. "Remember, with the Autobots on our side, we have more of an advantage against the droids, but-!"
"But don't get too cocky, men."
"Master!" she snarled with gritted teeth.
Anakin ignored her, turning towards Ironhide. "We have no idea if the Separatists have any tricks up their sleeves. You'll provide fire from the rear and keep our tanks from getting destroyed. We'll need all four of you if things go wrong."
"Yes, General," Ironhide replied.
The others nodded.
Anakin looked to Ahsoka. "Anything left?"
"Nope," was the sharp reply.
Satisfied, Anakin said, "Very well. Squad dismissed except for Yvana, Jack, and the Autobots!"
With a nod, the clones walked off to regroup with the others.
"How's the shoulder?" Anakin asked, looking at Jack.
"A lot better," the teen answered. "The bacta works great, so I can continue fighting alongside you guys."
"Good." He looked to Yvana. "Yvana, you can join us in the battle, but be on standby to help heal the wounded if there's an opening."
"Understood," she responded.
Anakin turned to the Autobots. "As for you guys, watch your aim. Poggle is inside the factory and we need him alive."
Wheeljack grimaced. "Not a fan of capturing missions, but we'll deal with it."
"Good," Anakin said. "What's next?"
Ahsoka decided to speak up. "You know, Master, my briefings might go better if you didn't try to interrupt me every time I try to-!"
Like a sitcom moment, Anakin interrupted her yet again. "I wasn't interrupting. I was trying to help you."
"Hah!" Jack exclaimed in disbelief.
Anakin's glare shut him up.
Ahsoka tried not to let her annoyance boil over. "Which I would appreciate if you didn't interrupt me to do it. I just think maybe you don't trust me to give the briefing."
"It's not about trust," he protested. "It's about getting the job done right."
"And you think Ahsoka can't get it done right?" Jack questioned, raising his eyebrow.
Ahsoka jumped on that before Anakin could offer a retort, furious with him. "Ah, so you don't trust me to get the job done right. I knew it!"
Anakin sighed, seeing that things were going downhill. "Snips, I never said-."
"No," she interrupted this time. "No, it's okay. I understand. I'm the Padawan, you're the Master."
She walked down the cliff before Anakin could call her back.
"I'll go with her," Arcee offered, following the Togruta down the cliff.
"To be fair," Jazz said at last, "that was your fault."
Anakin facepalmed. "Why do I get myself in these situations?"
"You make it too easy," Jack answered, also departing from the meeting area.
Anakin remembered why he called Yvana over in the first place. "I need to speak with Yvana alone."
"We'll be waiting for the call, General," Ironhide stated, walking away with Jazz and Wheeljack going with him.
Once everyone was out of earshot, Anakin spoke to her. "Yvana, I know that you and Jack are having issues. What's going on?"
She sighed, knowing that this was going to come up. "It's something that I don't want to talk about until we reach Coruscant, Knight Skywalker. Let's just say that Jack doesn't want me to have a say in what he does from here on out."
"I can pull him out of this fight," he offered.
"Don't," she said in a firm tone. "My relationship with my son has already deteriorated by a lot. You pull him out now, he'll know that it was because of me and it will only make things worse. Why do you think I keep my mouth shut lately?"
"Fine," Anakin conceded, looking up. "We'll talk later. Master Luminara has just arrived."
A squadron of gunships came in for a landing, some of them dropping off tanks while the others dropped off people. The lead gunship opened up to reveal a Mirialan Jedi Master cloaked in black. Jack deduced that this was Luminara Unduli. He did recognize Barriss Offee, the healer who helped him when he destroyed the Council Chambers.
"Good day, General," Captain Rex greeted. "Skywalker's waiting for you."
With a nod, the two Mirialans faced Jack, who bowed.
"Master Luminara," he said. "Good to meet you."
"You must be Aayla's former Padawan," Luminara replied. "I was led to believe that you left the Order."
Jack inwardly cringed, not liking that he made a poor impression on her before they even met. "It's…complicated. I was just letting the people back home know that I was alive. That's all."
"I see." Luminara realized that she was making him uncomfortable and backed off. "I'm sorry, Jackson. It's not my business to know the details of the circumstances to your brief departure."
Jack felt a bit relieved that she didn't press the matter and looked to Barriss. "Good to see you under better circumstances, Barriss."
She raised her eyebrow. "An invasion counts as a better circumstance, Jack?"
What is wrong with me today? First with Aayla, now with Barriss. "Touché."
"Too-shay?" the healer repeated. "What does that mean?"
"Good point," Jack explained, forgetting for a brief moment that they had no idea about Earth expressions.
Luminara's eyes when she noticed the Autobots. "I've heard about these transforming robots, but seeing them personally is something to behold."
"You can count me in on that statement, Master," Barriss added, bewildered.
"It was thanks to them that there were less casualties on our end," Jack informed them. "Perhaps you'll be able to get acquainted with them once we win."
"Perhaps, but let's not keep Skywalker waiting," Luminara said. "We have a planet to take and a Separatist leader to catch."
The trio walked towards Anakin, who seemed to be talking to an unhappy Ahsoka. Arcee and Yvana just watched the conversation.
"At it again, are they?" Luminara observed.
"Yup!" Jack confirmed.
'"Again', Master?" Barriss repeated, confused.
"Let's just say they have a penchant for playing loose with regulations and rules of command," Luminara explained.
"Couldn't be farther from the truth," Jack added.
"Who's the woman and the blue, female-like machine?" Barriss asked.
"That would be Yvana, my mother, and Arcee, my partner," Jack answered.
"Your mother?" Luminara questioned, giving Jack a surprised look.
"Not now," he quickly said. "Later."
They were in earshot of the conversation by now.
"Listen to me," Anakin stated.
Ahsoka, of course, wasn't going to. "Well, if you don't trust me, then maybe you should send me back!"
Anakin chuckled. "Oh, don't tempt me, Snips."
"If you're both quite finished with your little discussion," Luminara interrupted, "we do have a factory to destroy." She paused for a moment. "Well, Barriss, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"
To their surprise, Barriss bowed slightly in front of Ahsoka. "Padawan learner Barriss Offee at your service."
Jack grinned at Ahsoka feeling uncomfortable by her bowing, but decided to help her out by talking to Barriss. "Don't worry, Barriss. You don't need to do that with Ahsoka. We're all pretty informal when it comes to greetings."
Ahsoka proved it by holding out her hand and shaking hers. "Glad to meet you. I'm Ahsoka."
"See?" Jack asked.
"It's good to see you both again," Anakin said.
"I wish it was under more peaceful circumstances," Luminara replied before looking at Arcee. "You must be the Autobot the Jedi have talked about. It's an honor to finally meet you."
"Likewise," the femme said with a smile. "We're here to help even the odds."
"I hear that you did more than that today," Luminara stated, returning the warm smile. "On behalf of the Jedi Order and the Republic, thank you."
"Any time," Arcee promised.
"Have you been briefed on the attack plan?" Yvana questioned.
The Jedi Master shook her head. "I was hoping Skywalker could enlighten us."
Pulling up the holomap again, Anakin explained the situation to the two, but Ahsoka tuned them out. She was still miffed with her master for interrupting her over and over earlier.
"Don't worry, Ahsoka," Jack assured her in her mind. "You can vent your frustrations out on the droids."
The Togruta allowed herself a small smile. "That's one way to take my mind off the situation. By the way, what's going on between you and your mother?"
His smile vanished. "Let's just say that she kept something very important from me and deceived me."
Her curiosity rose. "What did she do?"
"Sorry, that's all you're getting." His thought-speak voice had a tone of finality.
"A frontal assault is risky," Luminara announced. "Even with the aide of the Autobots, our losses will be high."
"But not as high as they'll be if that factory comes online," Anakin pointed out.
"Indeed," the Mirialan Master agreed, "but there is an alternative."
The map zoomed in beneath the factory to reveal watch Jack believed to be the intestines of a human body. On closer inspection, they were tunnels.
"Every Geonosian building has a series of catacombs beneath it that run deep underground," she explained.
"Some of the tunnels are close enough to this cliff wall," Barriss added, "so that you could cut a hole and make an entry point."
Luminara took the reins of the debriefing again. "Once inside, we could find the main reactor, plant the explosives, and blow the factory inside out."
"That could work," Arcee admitted, getting down on one knee to get a closer look. "Of course, you would have to find a way around this maze. Easy to get lost if you're running in blind."
Jack looked at the two Mirialans with a suspicious glance. "Unless, of course, you know the route to take already."
Luminara nodded. "You catch on quick, Jackson. I've instructed Barriss to memorize the labyrinth, all 200 junctions."
'"All 200?"' Jack repeated, whistling in appreciation.
"You always were thorough," Anakin admitted with an impressed grin.
"It pays for one to be prepared," Luminara replied. "Right, Barriss?"
Barriss nodded. "Especially when other people's lives depend on your success."
Ahsoka, however, had concerns. "How do we keep the Geonosians occupied while someone else is setting the bombs?"
"Oh, I don't know," Jack answered in a joking tone. "It's not like we have an entire army and four giant robots to-Oh, wait!"
Anakin chuckled. "He's got a point, Snips. If whoever's going in there has gotta be successful, we have a huge diversion on standby."
"Precisely," Luminara agreed. "That task will be carried out by you and I, Skywalker, while the destruction of the factory falls to the Padawans."
That took Anakin by surprise and he wasn't happy. "Now, hold on! Who decided that? Walking into that factory could be suicide!"
"Not if you and I are successful holding Poggle's attention on the bridge," Luminara responded calmly.
"In retrospect, you guys have the riskier assignment," Jack added.
Ahsoka was not going to let Anakin stop her. "Master, I can do this. I've had riskier assignments!"
"But unlike Barriss," Anakin argued, "you aren't prepared for this mission."
"But Ahsoka can follow Barriss's lead," Jack retorted. "Remember all 200 junctions she studied?"
"Not to worry," Luminara assured. "My Padawan is reliable. She can lead them both through the maze."
"We'll be in and out, Master," Barriss promised.
"See?" Ahsoka asked with a smug look. "Dependable Barriss will get us through. Don't worry, Master. As you well know, I can follow orders."
Resist urge to laugh. Jack mentally coached himself. Resist urge to laugh.
All eyes, save for Arcee's, turned to face him.
Jack gulped nervously. "Did I broadcast my thoughts again?"
"Uh-huh," Ahsoka answered with a glare.
"Sorry," he apologized.
Luminara brought the conversation back to the matter at hand, giving Ahsoka the bag of explosives. "It's decided then."
"I guess it is," Anakin conceded, refusing to face his Padawan's smug expression.
Luminara wasn't finished as she handed two small devices to Barriss and Ahsoka. "We'll monitor your progress on these chronometers. Synchronize on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!"
Anakin, Ahsoka, Luminara, and Barriss activated them together.
"Let's get going," Ahsoka said. "After you, Barriss."
Nodding, Barriss started running with Ahsoka and Jack following behind.
"Wait a minute!" Anakin exclaimed, stopping the trio.
Ahsoka was tempted to let out a growl of frustration, but when she noticed the extra member to the group, she understood.
"Where are you going, Jack?" he questioned, crossing his arms.
"To destroy the factory," Jack answered as if it was the simplest thing. "You did say the Padawans. I am a Padawan."
Anakin rolled his eyes. "Need I remind you, Padawan, that you have barely begun your Jedi training? You're not equipped to do this."
"I disagree," Jack argued, not about to let him talk him out of this. "I think I can handle this." Before anyone could offer more comebacks, Jack decided to cut them off at the pass. "My wound has healed and I can defend myself from the Geonosians and the droids. A Decepticon can't fit in the catacombs, so we can rule them out."
Anakin turned to Yvana. "Aren't you going to say something, Yvana? You are his mother."
It was then that Luminara and Barriss sensed the tension between mother and son. From Jack, they could detect frustration and anger. From Yvana, they could feel sadness and guilt. While Jedi were not around families, they could tell that something had happened between them.
Yvana shook her head. "No. If he wants to do this mission, fine by me."
"Sure you can handle it, partner?" Arcee questioned.
Jack grinned. "I think a shiny, blue robot will attract too much attention, Arcee. We'll be back soon."
"Off with you, then," Luminara said. "We don't have much time."
Finally, the trio took off down the slope and headed towards the objective point, ready to take down the factory.
"He wouldn't have listened to us even if we refused to let him go," Yvana explained before anyone could question her. "Besides, I have no say in his life anymore."
Anakin sighed at the more questions the woman raised. "I'll be glad when we get to Coruscant so we can actually get some answers. Let's hope the Padawans to well."
"You feel Ahsoka's not up to the task," Luminara said as a statement as opposed to a question.
"I never said that," Anakin shot back.
"What is it, then?" she asked.
"Nothing," he answered. "Let's prepare the men."
Luminara knew that he wasn't telling the truth, but she decided not to call him out on it. Right now, they had to destroy the weapons factory.
"We'll have to make a bold move if we're to draw them out of the factory and keep their attention on us and not the Padawans," she stated.
"Which is where we come in," Arcee said. "We destroyed a good portion of the armies and the four of us took out the shield generator."
Luminara's eyes widened in shock. "What!? You can't be serious! I know the four of you are strong, but that's impossible!"
"I am being serious," the femme assured. "It was…easy."
"Shame you missed it," Anakin said, smiling at the memory. "It was a sight to behold."
"The point is this," Arcee continued. "The Geonosians will want revenge and what better way to give them the opportunity than to march right up to their front door?"
"Exactly," Anakin agreed. "We'll march our troops straight up the middle, parade style. No way can they resist that."
"With no cover?" Luminara asked.
"Well, we have to make it tempting," Anakin explained.
"Unless you have a better idea," Yvana added, "I think this is a good plan."
Luminara weighed her options briefly before nodding her head. "Very well. Let's go say hello to the natives, but I still doubt that it only took four Autobots to destroy the shield generator."
"Don't worry, General," Arcee replied with a smirk. "Your doubts about us will be nullified by the time this is over."
Okay, now that the filler is over, I can write out the action scenes. I can't wait!
To reply to RedGargoyle09's statement as well as the others who have suggested that Miko gets a blaster and starts shooting people, it's not gonna happen. Miko is completely unprepared for this situation. Unlike the Decepticons, the droids and Geonosians will kill her. There is no logical way that she will end up participating in the battle. However, that does not mean that she will be written out of the story and neither will Raf.
Need more reviews please!
Next chapter: The battle begins.