[Started on December 20, 2020]

[00:37 hours, Philippines]

=== (Chapter Fifteen: Tough Time to be Ahsoka) ===

Death is an interesting concept. It is an occurrence that forces people to say their last farewell to their loved one's bodies, it is—

"Dude," Naruto says and motions to the current slaughter going on behind him. "Wrong fic."

Oooohhhhh… huh… oops. Moving on!

"Right, right," Naruto nods and then stares at the carnage before him.

Itachi and Satsuki are flying with their jetpacks, blasting and bombing the droids away. Meanwhile, Naruto's Shadow Fox Legion is mixed in with Anakin's Five-O-First—and are admittedly taking much fewer casualties than their normal brethren.

Just kidding.

They're taking zero casualties so far.

As all that is going on, Commander Cody and Jedi Master Kenobi stare in interest at the fighting style of Naruto's clones.

As one clone reloads, another clone fires and they aren't at all uncomfortable with using the DC-15A unlike many of the other—dare they even say "regular"—clones.

Honestly, though, the ground battle here is pretty boring so let's move to the two side characters I've set aside for… almost the entire story, really.

Yes, ladies, gents, queers, and whatnots, I bring you to Sarada and Ahsoka.

Both of whom are currently inside a gunship… with Rex, Wise, two praetorians, and two other figures in tattered hooded robes holding onto the handholds as the gunship rocks with flak bursting anywhere but near enough to hit it.

"I guess the General really knows his stuff," Wise says with a hum making Rex and Ahsoka look at him weirdly. "What?"

"At this point," Rex says with a sigh, "I don't think we should even put in any effort into figuring out who your General really is anymore, or what he's capable of."

Wise shrugs as he glances at Sarada and Ahsoka. "Doesn't matter. Apparently, it's this universe's thing where if you're even a somewhat important character, around ninety-percent of the time people around you don't die."

"What?"

"Sorry, General's words, not mine. I'm just the clone who takes everything he says seriously."

"Pfft."

Wise slumps as Sarada snickers.

"You," Sadara grins, "serious? Pfft."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, little miss Padawan with a crush on her Master," Wise waves away.

"No, I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"HA!"

"What—" Sarada blushes. "YOU-YOU-YOU—THAT WAS CHEATING!"

"Ahaaaa! So, you don't deny it," Wise says with a grin behind his helmet.

"Listen here, Mister!"

Rex sighs as he tunes them out. He glances at Ahsoka who is currently giving the other padawan a stare that he just can't quite place. Jealousy? No, something else… Misunderstanding? Sighing again, Rex asks the question knowing he won't find out anything if he doesn't. "So, Commander, something on your mind?"

Ahsoka closes her eyes before taking in a deep breath. "No, it's nothing."

Unfortunately for her, Sarada does not let the subject drop. "Look, Ahsoka," she places a hand on her hip, "if you have an issue with me, let's get it out of the way now or set it aside for later. We need to work together if we want to save those civilians. My master, Jedi he may be, is also a man who could honestly care so much less about the rules of the Jedi. He told me and his men before we left that if we fail, he won't hesitate to move to plan B which involves the loss of civilian lives."

"But that's—"

"He's more of a general than he is a Jedi, Padawan Ahsoka," one praetorian says in a distorted mechanical voice. "Our roles today are important. If we can't fulfill them, he will move on to more drastic measures."

"Humph! For a supposedly great general, he sure is basing his plans off of our success."

"No, he isn't," the reply comes from one of the hooded figures. "He's giving you a chance to save the civilians. If you don't, he'll take them out with the droids."

Before Ahsoka can retort, the pilot's voice cuts in. "ETA to drop, thirty seconds."

Sarada looks to Wise and nods. The Shadow Fox Clone acknowledges and replies, "Copy. Operation 'Rescue as many civilians as we can or see them die' is a go."

Rex goes, "Really?"

Wise replies, "Really."

The pilot asks, "Who the fuck thought up that name for this operation?"

"Take it up with the general. It's direct, and we'll be experiencing heavy fire once we get off," Wise says matter-of-factly. "Snipes, how are you boys holding up?"

"We're ten seconds out. You better make it quick. These new boys of the General are supposedly a match for the praetorians, and I wanna see them in action, so you better not screw up."

"Tell that to the padawan of Skywalker."

"Twenty seconds!"

"Pilot! Open blast doors!"

The blast doors open and the two praetorians nod. "This is Rook," one of them says. "Commencing Phase One."

The blast doors open and the two praetorians drop to the grounds as their armour hardens before cloaking them. Next, the two hooded figures move to the blast doors before one of them says, "This is Headhunter One, commencing phase two. Estimated time of completion, ten minutes." He drops and is closely followed by the other hooded figure—another Headhunter.

"Ten seconds!"

Wise taps the side of his helmet. "This is Wise, commencing phase three."

The gunship does a quick descent and its four remaining passengers disembark before it takes off and zooms away.

"Okay, what exactly are phases one, two, and three anyway?" Ahsoka asks the Shadow Fox Trooper with a hand on her hip.

Sarada tries—and fails—to hold back a sigh. "Didn't you listen in on the briefing my Master gave?!"

"That's enough, Padawan," Wise says as he scans the area. "We have our roles. Let's fulfill them before we're spotted. Rex, keep your Padawan on a leash. This isn't General Skywalker's operations where there'll be a lot of room for improvisation. It's either we stick to plan, or shit hits the fan, and our General proceeds with plan B."

"I'll try, but no promises, Wise."

Sarada gives an annoyed 'tsk' before nodding. "Let's hope that's enough. Let's go."

They make their way to a back entrance and open the door which opens to a flight of stairs going down to an underground tunnel system.

=== (Battlefield: Ryloth) ===

Kazumi and Satsuki take cover behind rocks as droid after droid marches out to their death, courtesy of the Shadow Fox Legions commanded by Commander Orange and even a few Five-O-First troopers who are slowly learning from their more elite brethren.

And then the red blaster fires halt.

"This is Rook to all frontline forces. Virus upload is successful."

"Well, you heard him, charge!" Commander Orange commands and his brothers charge into the once-moving-now-still battle droids and begin to cut and shoot down all the droids.

The two former bounty hunters move to join in, but both are stopped when Naruto places a hand on each of them. "I thought you might enjoy using these," he says and hands each of them one lightsaber. "I'll be here when you finish. Let's hope Phase Three goes according to plan."

The sisters nod before charging into the carnage.

=== (Behind enemy lines: Ryloth) ===

Ahsoka and Sarada unleash their lightsabers and begin opening the gates that cage the civilians with Wise and Rex covering them.

Thankfully their task was going off without a hitch thus far.

It, unfortunately, does not last as Ahsoka quickly motions for the civilians to follow her.

"Ahsoka!" Sarada calls out as her eyes widen. "Stop! Stick to the plan! Don't go there!"

"We need to get them out of here! This is the quickest—"

"ROOOOAAAAARRRR!"

"—route?" Ahsoka staggers her last word as she turns to see beasts on two legs, fangs bared as they begin bashing on their cages. "RUUUUUN!" Ahsoka shouts leading the civilians to panic as the beast—Gutkurrs, they are called, break their cages and begin chasing after the civilians.

"Wise! Rex! Open fire! Ahsoka! Fall back!" Sarada calls out as she rushes the beasts while the other padawan falls onto her bottom. "DAMMIT! This is why Master always tells me to think!" She shouts before slicing one Gutkurr through the legs crippling it.

"No time for scolding, padawan!" Wise shouts as he shoots down two Gutkurrs while rex shoots two more. "Fall back! Everyone! Fall back!"

The two padawans fall back behind their two clone escorts who continue to blast away—their blasters not having much effect save for their lucky shots at their previous kills hitting the Gutkurrs eyes.

Sarada glances around before giving an annoyed 'tsk' and pulling her three companions back using the Force. Quickly, she slices the walls and ceiling before using the Force once again to bring it down blocking the path of the Gutkurr horde. "I don't know if it will hold so let's go! Now!" She commands and rushes past the three who scramble after her.

They near the exit with hopes in their eyes.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

PEW!

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

The eyes of the two padawans widen in horror as the colour red flashes from outside their once-entrance-now-exit.

Rex watches in horror as a young Twi'lek girl, along with what he assumes to be her mother, falls down the stairs. "Oh no…"

"Wise, sitrep. You should be out of there by now!" the voice of Commander Orange echoes through the tunnel. "Wise! We're pushing up! We need you to regroup with us ASAP or hold on! I have reports of an entire droid unit pushing up on your position!"

Wise's voice grows cold. "Sir… this is Wise… reporting in: All civilians are dead."

At first, static greets the group. Then a voice comes in. "What?" a calm and cold voice hardly ever heard coming from Commander Orange.

"All civilians have been gunned down… Sir."

"… The General will have your full report. Get back here or survive in any way you can, soldier."

"Understood." Wise then grabs five droid poppers and throws them to the entrance. "Rex, Padawans… fall in."

=== (To be continued) ===

I'm back!

Please leave a review. I'm almost done with this fic but I still wanna know what I can do.

Oh right, and just so you know, I'm pretty much giving you an advanced warning that the ending will be rather anti-climactic.

Cheers!

[Finished on January 16, 2021]

[17:36 hours, Philippines]

[Proofread on January 16, 2021]

[17: 43 hours]