Anakin POV
We managed to beat Obi Wan and the others to the Sujimis sector as was the plan, this way we could draw the droids into a fight and take out their ships so that they others could land on the planet. When we came it of hyperspace we were able to see the command ship which was flanked by another two ships.
"Looks like they've under estimated us." I said to the Admiral.
"Perhaps." He replied simply.
"This will be easy." I smiled confidently, however something in the back of my mind made me wonder if this was too easy... "Well come on, Maya." I told her and started in the direction of the hangar. We couldn't just stand around staring at the Separatists if we wanted to make way for Obi Wan's ground assault.
"What are we doing?" My padawan asked, jogging to catch up with me.
"Going to join the fight, what else would we be doing?"
"Cool! So does that mean-"
"Less talking, more running."
I heard her groan, but focussed on getting to the hangar. If we wanted to get the fighters into the battle then we didn't have any time to waste talking. When we reached the star destroyer's hangar I began shouting orders.
"Shadow Squadron, to your fighters!"
"Do I get to pilot a fighter?" Maya asked.
"No, you're going to be my gunner."
"Aw really? Can't I have my own ship?"
"Another time, but for now, I need you to make sure we don't get shot down."
"But why can't one of the clones do that? I can fly a ship myself, Anakin."
"I know you can, but just not now."
"Please? You never let me fly a ship." She whined, making me roll my eyes.
"Maya we don't have time for this! Just get in the ship."
"Fine!" She snapped and finally did what I asked her to.
"Teenagers." I muttered just in time for Rex to walk over to me, chuckling when he heard what I said.
"Problems with the Commander, sir?"
"Nothing serious Rex. Are the men ready to move out?"
"Yes sir, they await your orders."
"Thanks Rex. Stand by on the bridge with Admiral Ularen."
"Yes sir." He saluted me then we went our separate ways.
When I got into my fighter I had to roll my eyes as I heard Maya muttering her complaints to herself, it seemed that it might take longer for her to get over this than I thought, but she didn't have time to hold a grudge now.
"Cut the chatter Maya, we have a mission to run." I reminded her before giving the squadron the order to move out and we flew out of the hanger into space, heading straight for the Separatist ships.
It wasn't long before my sensors started flashing and looking up ahead I saw that the fight was about to begin.
"Vulture droids!" I heard my gunner announce over the coms and sure enough they came at is in a swarm, rapidly firing as they approached.
"Alright men, you know what to do, let's take 'em out." I ordered and swerved to try and out manoeuvre them as they came into range. "Start firing Maya!"
"Your fancy flying doesn't make it easy to aim, Skywalker!"
"I'm a great pilot and you know it." I smirked.
Maya began shooting, managing to knock out some of the droids and I smiled to myself. She always had my back, even when she'd rather be in the front seat herself. Listening to the clones on the coms it sounded as if we hadn't lost anyone so far which was a good sign.
"Nice work Shadow 7!"
"Watch out for your right flank, Shadow 4, there's a droid coming straight for you."
"I see it! Got it!"
"You're clear!"
Lights flashed around us as bolts whizzed past the cockpit, narrowly avoiding hitting the ships. The droids were being defeated, blowing up in balls of fire as they were eliminated only for another to surge forward at take its place, but we now had a path clear enough to get through.
"Time to make our attack run!" The fighters that had held back flew forward down the path we had made, straight on toward the cruisers. I was certain that it was going to work, but at that moment more cruisers appeared out of hyperspace and began firing at us.
"Where did they come from?" Maya asked in surprise and the realisation hit me.
"We've sprung a trap! They were just waiting for us to get close enough."
Almost immediately the oncoming fire intensified, making it harder to evade the wave of bolts. I felt like an idiot, I lead us straight into what was so obviously a trap, I should have known from the beginning that they wouldn't make it that easy for us.
"General Skywalker, the cruiser is under attack, we must retreat." Ularen's voice said over the com and I felt my guilt rise as I could hear the shots hitting the deflector shield of the Resolute in the background.
"Squadron, fall back to the command ship now!" I swung the fighter around and began to navigate my way back.
"But Master, what about when Obi Wan gets here?" Maya asked.
"We'll worry about that later, let's just get back to the ship."
On the way we lost a few men, but most of us made it back to the cruiser intact.
"Master, are you ok?" Maya asked as we climbed out of our fighter.
"I'm fine Maya." I replied coldly, even though I felt anything but. It would take a miracle for us to win this now. Especially without reinforcements. However, it seemed we had another more immediate problem.
Rex approached and I could sense that he wasn't bringing good news.
"The hyper drive has been damaged."
If Maya hadn't been there I would have cursed, now we couldn't even escape and regroup!
"What will we do now?" Maya asked, a look of panic on her face.
Cora POV
We found Master Kenobi and Master Plo on the bridge, observing the chaos that we had come to find ourselves in.
"Master what's going on?" Jay asked, wide eyed.
"We've come out of hyperspace and the battle is still proceeding." Master Plo explained.
"It seems as if we didn't give Anakin enough time to neutralise them." Master Kenobi noted before a clone spoke up from his position at of one of the scanners.
"Our scanners indicate that General Skywalker's hyperdrive has been damaged so they can't jump to light speed."
"They're trapped here and they need help." Jay said to Obi Wan.
"You're right, but we'll need a strategy and this bombardment isn't going to give us much time to think of one." He replied.
"But we can't fall back and leave Master Skywalker and Maya here." I said, before realising that I had spoken out of turn. "Sorry." I muttered and bowed my head.
"You don't need to apologise, Cora, you're right. We need to contact Anakin and come up with a plan. Now." He called Skywalker on the com. "Anakin, come in."
The hologram of Master Skywalker flickered to life. "Obi Wan, glad to see you, we need back up."
"We noticed, we're here to offer assistance, but we need a strategy."
"Well I'm a little busy to come up with one at the moment!"
I saw Master Kenobi, almost roll his eyes before shaking his head. "We will come up with something, but we need you on board with it."
"I'm open to anything right about now."
"Well maybe you should-"
"- I have an idea." Anakin cut him off before he could finish and ended the call, leaving most of us stunned, and Obi Wan looking particularly frustrated.
"Anakin." He groaned and shook his head.
"What do you think he's going to do?" I asked Jay who shrugged.
"I guess we'll have to wait and find out."
It was true and we found out soon enough when he called us back.
"I've ordered the evacuation of my ship, the crew are transferring to come aboard yours."
"Well thank you for letting us know before they arrived." Master Kenobi said with a surprising amount of sass, making Jay grin.
"Sorry Master, I had to give the order straight away. I have a plan."
"What is it, Skywalker?" Master Plo asked.
"Once the ship is fully evacuated I am going to fly the cruiser directly into the Separatist command ship and jettison in an escape pod before it destroys their ship."
"Anakin that's extremely risky-"
"But it will work, and this way I'm the only one at risk. While I'm in the escape pods you and the men can disable the rest of the ships and then proceed with the ground assault."
"You will be in a very vulnerable position in an escape pod." Master Plo warned him.
"I know, but I trust that all of you will be able to take on the enemy and destroy them before retrieving me and the pod."
He certainly seemed confident in his plan, and it looked like some of his confidence must have rubbed off on the other masters because they decided to go along with it. Although I doubted that they would be able to stop him from ramming that ship, even if they ordered him not to, so they had to go along with it. Now they just had to figure out how to take out the remaining ships.
The planning was rushed, but we had a good strategy and as soon as the Separatist command ship was destroyed by Anakin we got into position. Our cruiser's hull was angled away from the battle, exposing it's underside where the shields were stronger. Thus the important parts of the ship like the bridge were safer.
"Now we just gotta hope that those stupid clankers fall into our trap." Jay said as we sat in our fighters, ready to go into battle.
"Indeed, let's hope." I nodded.
"Hey... Now isn't really the time to ask, but why didn't your master join in with the planning before?"
"I'm not sure... Most likely because she knows that Master Skywalker won't like her being here."
"Oh... That would make sense."
"Now, let's focus on what we need to do. We want to make it through this." We had to be focus if we were going to win and stay alive.
"Right."
When we were given our orders we left the hangar and my eyes widened when I saw that the Separatists really had come towards us just like we had planned. Now we were meant to outflank them and destroy them.
"Let's go boys!" Jay gave the order and we split up to outflank them.
I had to admit I was nervous, this was my first time doing this and I wasn't sure how well I could pilot a ship, especially when they started shooting back at us. I had to swerve the ship to the right to avoid a bolt and I felt my heart pound. I wish I had my Master here with me, she could do this so much better.
"Are you alright, commander?" The trooper who was acting as my gunner asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." I replied, even though I definitely wasn't.
The fighting was intense, but we had a clear advantage, our fighters were smaller and more manoeuvrable, able to evade the oncoming fire and outflank the cruisers. Once we were close enough we began to fire and as we swooped over the bridges of the cruisers with an array of blaster bolts the ships were taken down.
"Woo!" Jay cheered over the com and I heard the clones congratulate each other as we turned around and made our way back to the Jedi cruiser.
"We are now cleared for ground assault." I said over the coms to Masters Kenobi and Plo.
Maya POV
We landed on Orto Plutonia and the first thing I noticed was that it was covered entirely in snow.
"Well this is going to be a very interesting mission, Master, trying to capture Grievous in the freezing cold."
"Well that's why we brought the snow gear, because once we step outside it's going to get a lot colder." Anakin said as he put his goggles on and pulled the hood of his snow jacket up over his head.
"What are we going to do if we do get him this time?"
Anakin looked at me and handed me my coat. "We are going to take him back to Coruscant where he will stand trial and then lock him up somewhere he won't be able hurt anyone again."
I put on my coat, hat and goggles before pulling on my gloves. "I'm trying not to be scared but... I am. I'm really scared after last time. What if something goes wrong? What if one of us gets hurt again?"
"Maya, no one is going to let that happen. I promise I won't let it any of you get hurt again." He put his hand on my shoulder prompting me to give him a small smile. Somehow his words reassured me a little. "Come on let's go." He opened the door and a wall of cold air hit my face, stealing the breath from my lungs.
"H-How long are we going to be on this planet, Master?" I asked, already looking forward to going back to Coruscant.
"As long it takes to catch Grievous." He replied before walking out.
"Seriously? Then we need to catch him quickly; if it's more than a day on this planet we are all going to freeze to death." I mumbled to myself.
I slowly followed Anakin in the direction of Captain Rex, who was ordering the clone troopers to move the equipment off the transports. I surveyed the frozen landscape and shivered, it was so cold out here, how would anyone be able to survive on this planet without freezing? I could already feel my fingers and toes going numb.
"Keep up Maya." Anakin called to me I forced myself to jog over to him and soon discovered that it wasn't easy to run in the snow. Just as I heard a noise and looked up to see a ship coming in to land. It was the others! Once the ship landed the landing ramp came down, Master Obi Wan, Master Plo, Jay, Cora and Alexa walked out - wait Alexa?! She isn't suppose to be here! What is she doing here?! I looked at Anakin and immediately I could see that he was not happy to see her.
Uh oh! This isn't going to be good.
"Hey Anakin, didn't you tell Alexa that she wasn't suppose to be coming on this mission?"
"Yes I did, but Alexa's hearing must be failing." Anakin walked over to Alexa and I felt my nerves rising. This was going to go down hill, very fast.
Hoping that maybe I could stop Anakin from going completely crazy I hurried to follow him.
"Hello Anakin." Alexa said and I didn't need the force to know that she was worried about how this was going to go.
"Alexa what are you doing here? Did I not make it clear to you that you weren't allowed to come on this mission?"
"Look Anakin, I know you're angry, but I just had to come on the mission and look out for Cora."
"I told you we would watch Cora, Alexa, and you shouldn't be here, you're pregnant. Remember?" He asked sarcastically.
"It's a little hard to forget when everyone keeps reminding me." She sassed back.
"Well what if you get hurt or even worst the child you are carrying gets hurt?" He asked, but it didn't look like Alexa was taking in anything he was saying because all she did was roll her eyes at him.
Why did she have to be so stubborn?
I saw Jay standing nearby and I quickly decided that I didn't want to get involved in the argument that was going on between Skywalker and Arnjard, so I walked over to my boyfriend.
"Hey Jay."
"Hi Maya. You know, Anakin doesn't look very happy." He noted, looking at my master.
"That's because he's not happy. He told Alexa... Well he made it quite clear that she wasn't going to be coming on this mission, but I guess she didn't care about what he said. At least Rendal doesn't know... I'm sure he'd be really worried if he did."
"Oh he knows."
"What? How?"
"He called the ship's comlink. asking if Alexa was aboard the ship at the time and I said yes. He wanted to talk to her and the conversation didn't go down well."
"Yeah I bet it didn't, Alexa is pregnant so that's why she wasn't meant to- wait, you know?"
"Wait what?"
"You know that Alexa is pregnant?"
"Yeah I do."
I was now so confused; how did jay know about Alexa being pregnant? Did Cora tell him? Did Alexa? No she wouldn't tell him, she didn't want Jay to know. If Alexa and Rendal find out that Jay knows they are going to think I told him and they are going to kill me. Even though I didn't say a thing, Alexa would try and kill me.
"Jay, how do you know about Alexa?"
"Well it was the only thing that made sense; she was sick before and she's never been that sick then when Rendal called looking for her I knew something was off. Then when he was arguing with Alexa I kinda heard him mention something about a baby, so I sort of put it together."
"Oh not good..." I mumbled starting to stress out. "If Alexa finds out that you know then she is going to kill me, Jay!" I whisper shouted. "She will actually kill me!"
He looked at me with a confused expression. "Why?"
"Because I wasn't suppose to tell you that Alexa was pregnant."
"Why? You know I wouldn't spill their secret."
"Because Alexa and Rendal didn't want me to tell you because you are Master Plo's padawan and he is a member of the Jedi Council and they were scared that if you found out or accidentally said anything to anyone then Alexa and Rendal would be in trouble for having a relationship together." He was a little shocked, but as I watched his expression I could see him start to get annoyed.
"So you knew all the time?"
"Well... Yeah, and so did Cora... And Anakin... And Master Obi Wan."
"So everyone one knew but me?" He shouted a little.
I sighed and nodded my head. "I'm sorry, Jay, I truly am. I wanted to tell you I really did, but Alexa and Rendal were going to tell you at some stage."
"I can't believe you all kept this from me."
"At least you know now, Jay."
"Maya you should have told me."
"Did you not just hear what I just said Jay?" I asked, frustrated that he didn't understand. "I couldn't tell you! I wanted to but I couldn't. It wasn't my place, it was Alexa and Rendal's choice to tell you when they were ready. Believe me I wasn't happy about it, but there was nothing I could do. I'm sorry for not being able to tell you. Now I need to go talk to my master." I turned around, but Jay stopped me.
"Maya wait," I turned back to face him, "I'm sorry. It's not your fault for not being able to say anything. I shouldn't have gotten annoyed."
"That's right. You shouldn't have." I folded my arms over my chest.
"Can you forgive me? I just... I let it get to my head, it hate being left out of something so important. I'm really sorry for blaming you. You did the right thing."
I hesitated for a second then sighed and smiled softly. "I forgive you."
"Thank you. I would kiss you, but unfortunately our masters are around... They have seen us kissing before right?"
I shook my head. "I doubt it, if Master Plo saw I don't think he would be very happy, and Anakin well he would give me another lecture about our relationship and all that good stuff, which I don't really feel like listening to, again. Plus let's not forget, he wouldn't be happy with you either, Jay." I laughed a little.
"Well... I mean they aren't looking our way..."
"Not here, Jay, we can't."
He sighed softly. "You'er right we can't." Another gust of bitter wind made me pull my hood further over my face.
"Anyway, I'm going to find Anakin." I leaned in and gave Jay a little peck on the cheek. "There you, happy now?"
He smiled at me. "Very happy." I shook my head then went to find Anakin, but he was still giving Alexa a lecture, but Alexa wasn't having it at all. I rolled my eyes, we had other things to be focusing on other than arguments, however, I wasn't going to get in the middle of this one.
