Chapter 13 - Face Them Sideways
Sulani was meditating in her room when Anakin called for her to come down to the hangar, they had some work to do. When she entered the hangar, Anakin was directing clones with cargo and it was at that moment, the sirens started wailing. "Anakin," she called to him, "what is going on?"
"Oh, Mother," he said upon turning to face her, "glad you're here, we're evacuating the Defender."
"We're doing what?"
"Don't worry Mother, I have a plan," he says before standing atop a crate, continuing to direct the clones, "Alright, men, alright. This way, come one, move it. Move it! Let's go, no time to waste."
Sulani was still trying to wrap her head around the situation when Ahsoka walked up to them, "Master? I'm almost afraid to ask."
"I ordered the Defender evacuated," he explains.
"I can see that. Why?"
"Well, actually," he says, "I got the idea from you."
"Oh, great," she says, though Sulani could tell she thought it was anything but great.
"Rex," Anakin says to said trooper beside him, "take over will you?"
He gets off his crate stand and walks with Ahsoka beside him, "You said we couldn't just smash through the blockade. I decided that's partly true."
Sulani rose one of her eyebrows as she followed behind them, this ought to be good.
"You also implied that my plans put a lot of people at risk," he continues, "and I agree with you on that one."
"That's a first," Ahsoka snarks back, Sulani could not help but agree.
"I decided the only way we can break the blockade is if I pilot the Defender right into their battleship and take out the commander," he says, ignoring her comment.
"What?" Ahsoka and Sulani said at the same time, Sulani's a little louder.
"This way I'm the only one at risk," he explains.
"Anakin," Sulani says, "I'd hoped the thing you'd take out of this was no more risky plans, not for you to decide to just take the risks alone. I'd much rather no one was at risk."
"I'll be fine Mother," he says. "Besides, the Defender is damaged already."
"You can't be serious, Master," Ahsoka exclaims. "You'll die."
Straight to the extremes with her, it would seem, Sulani thought to herself. Anakin was ready to answer regardless, "No, I won't. That's where you come in."
He turned another direction, getting ready to board a transport, while Ahsoka gave him a confused look, he simply pressed on, "The enemy can't stop that ship from taking them out. R2 and I will get in an escape pod and jettison right before impact."
"But the enemy fleet is right there," she argued and for once, Sulani was on her side in the argument.
"I know," he says, "and I'll pretty much be defenseless in an escape pod, so I'm depending on you to engage the remaining fleet with the combined forces we have here."
"Master, I…uh…I can't," she finally gets out, "Besides, with Mother here, can't she be in charge. If something goes wrong, I can't be responsible for-"
"You are responsible, Ahsoka," he interrupts her, "Mother was never here to take command, she's already seen more action than she was supposed to in her capacity as an adviser. These men are depending on you, and this time, so am I."
"But Master, last time, I-"
"Attention!," he calls out, ignoring her protests, "Everyone, attention!"
He waited for them to gather before speaking, "Alright men, listen up. I'm taking over the Defender, and I'm leaving Commander Ahsoka in charge. She'll lead the second half of the mission when we engage what's remaining of the blockade."
"Try to leave some ships for us, General," Rex says as he pounds a fist into his other hand.
"Will do, Rex," Anakin answers with a short laugh. "Now, Commander Ahsoka will fill you in on the full plan."
"Master, wait," she stage whispers.
He just ignores her, "Good luck," he says and winks at her.
"Master," she stage whispers again with an angrier tone.
"Awaiting orders, Commander," a clone says behind her.
"I'll be on the bridge," she says in the end, walking away.
"Well," Rex says, "you heard her boys, back to work. Come on, move it, move it."
As the clones ran off to continue what they were doing, Sulani slowly steps up beside Rex, "Thank you Rex, she's still trying to get used to the idea that she's in charge of the whole ship at this point in time."
"I know General," he says, "She's a bit dazed right now, but I know she'll come up with something just as risky as General Skywalker, and just as effective as well."
"Yes," she replies softly, "I know she will."
Sulani had walked with Rex up to the bridge, Ahsoka had yet to actually appear, though this she had expected. Rex walked over to the holotable and was prepared to start it up when Ahsoka finally entered the room, "Commander on deck," he calls out for everyone to hear.
"At ease," Ahsoka said as she walks further into the room.
"General Skywalker is contacting you," Rex informs her.
With that, a projection of Anakin appears next to the table, on Sulani's left, he wasted no time in speaking, "Alright Ahsoka, we're ready to get under way."
"Master," she says apprehensively, "are you sure you won't reconsider this?"
"This is the only way," he says, "trust me."
He did not wait for a response before cutting his end of the transmission, they all watched out the bow of the ship as the Defender, with Anakin and R2 aboard, entered hyperspace.
"Better fill us in, Commander," Rex says after a few moments.
"Right," she says, looking as if she wanted a hatch to open below her and get her out of there. "General Skywalker plans on crashing the Defender into the enemy's battleship in order to take out the commander. He wants us to follow up by defeating the remaining ships while he sits in an escape pod waiting for rescue."
"Well," Rex says, "I have to say, this plan is questionable."
"Yeah," she agrees, "but with their general destroyed along with their battleship, the droid commanders will be in chaos."
"Only temporarily," Rex points out, "and there's still General Skywalker to find in all that mess."
"I know, but-"
"In our first attack," another clone cuts in, "we had three fully armed cruisers and we failed."
"I wish General Skywalker had discussed this plan with us," Rex says. "The odds are very much against us."
"They always are," she says in turn.
"Yes," the other clone speaks again, "but normally we have General Skywalker to lead us in-"
It was at that moment that he realised who was in the room as he went to say that, he looks over at Ahsoka apologetically, "I meant no offence Commander."
"None taken," she says softly.
"Sir," he tries again, "even if Skywalker is successful and destroys the battleship, how will we stand up to the combined fire power of the remaining frigates?"
"I thought about that," Ahsoka says slowly, "and well, I have an idea."
"Go ahead, Commander," Rex says.
"If we took the Resolute and angled her hull against the incoming frigates, the bridge and hangar deck would be relatively safe from their attack."
She demonstrated her idea with the holotable and Sulani could see where she was coming from, it was certainly an Anakin style idea. She leaned against the table as Ahsoka continued, "We could draw them in and then use the bombers to outflank them. The bombers would be too fast and they would be trapped."
"Hmm," Rex starts to think about it.
"I'm not sure about this, Commander," says the other clone,
"I- I think-" she fumbles, starting to doubt herself again.
"If we were certain the shields would hold," Rex says.
"Perhaps a different strategy," suggests the other clone. "We need to take more time and plan."
"No," Ahsoka says strongly, "We don't have any more time. Master Skywalker needs me now. He needs us now."
"The Commander is right," Admiral Yularen says from behind her and everyone turns to watch him walk into the room. "I know this strategy is very bold, but these circumstances call for drastic measures."
"Then the strategy will work, sir?" the clone inquires.
"Well, will it?" Yularen asks Ahsoka.
"Yes," she says with finality, "it will."
With a plan finally in place, they quickly jump to lightspeed in order to help out Anakin. While they were doing this, Sulani threw a grateful look at Yularen, who simply nods in response. When they finally exited from hyperspace, the Defender was already nearing the enemy battleship. Anakin must have noticed their arrival, because the Defender started speeding up, preparing to ram into the enemy ship. Everyone was back around the holotable, Ahsoka finally finding her confidence, "When those two ships collide, there'll be chaos. We need that time to get General Skywalker's pod into the tractor beam."
"Right, Commander," Rex nods.
Ahsoka starts to leave, but turns to say one more thing, "I'll command the fighter squadron. Wait for my signal to begin our attack."
"Yes sir," Rex says.
She then leaves the room, the others waiting for her signal, Sulani with a proud smile hidden behind her hand. They watched as the Defender got steadily closer to the battleship, the enemy were trying really hard to shoot it out of the sky before it could hit them. It finally crashed into the ship, doing exactly what Anakin was hoping it would do, destroy the enemy battleship. That meant it was time to get their plan underway. The Resolute was then turned onto her side as they approached the enemy, her hull facing them to protect the bridge and hangar from the enemy frigates. They watched for a while on the table, seeing as they could no longer see out from the bridge, and Yularen was not sure things were going their way, "I'm not sure they're going to attack, Commander."
"We'll have to retreat," Rex says.
"No, wait," Ahsoka's voice comes through the comms, "Remember, they are droids, they're just a little slow. They'll figure it out."
"She has a point," Sulani says with a chuckle.
So they waited, and it turns out the wait was worth it as the remaining enemy frigates start attacking them, moving themselves closer. "The droids are attacking, sir," the other clone says.
"Commander," Yularen says, "on your order, commence flanking maneuver."
They listened as Ahsoka gave the command and she took her squadron out of the hangar and towards the enemy frigates. They watched on the holotable as the ships are continuously destroyed and it was at that moment they had an incoming on their radar. "Sir," calls the clone on the radar, "it's General Kenobi and his fleet, they're coming out of hyperspace."
"Commander," Rex calls for Ahsoka's attention. "The invasion fleet is coming out of hyperspace."
After he finished his transmission, the three ships making up the invasion fleet pull up behind them. "Ahsoka," they hear Obi-Wan, "the is Obi-Wan, may we begin our landing?"
"Yes, Master," she says, "you're cleared for ground assault."
"I won't even ask where the rest of Anakin's fleet is," he says slowly, "or why he's in an escape pod."
"That's probably for the best," and Sulani could almost hear the flinch in Ahsoka's voice. "Rex, that reminds me, send a shuttle to pick up Master Skywalker."
"Yes, sir."
A shuttle was quickly sent to go and get Anakin, he had been there a little bit longer than planned after all.
They were in the meeting room again, this time Anakin was present, as they discussed plans with the holo-images of Obi-Wan and Master Windu. "We'll take our cruisers closer to the surface of Ryloth," Master Windu explains, "from there, we will take our troops down to Ryloth, as many as we can without leaving the ships entirely defenseless."
"What would you have us do Master?" Anakin asks.
"Stay where you are," he answers, "your fleet has taken a heavy blow in taking out the blockade, but you need to completely destroy the remaining enemy forces. Once you have done that, take the time to recuperate, find out what forces you have left and sit tight. Obi-Wan and I will be leaving our ships without commanders, so if the need arises, at least you'll be in the area to take command if necessary. If we need your assistance in any way, we'll contact you, but in the mean time, take out those cruisers and then take a break Skywalker. You, and your Padawan, deserve it."
"Thank you Master," Anakin says, with a nod of thanks as well, "We'll sit here and await further orders. May the Force be with you Masters."
The transmission is then cut on both ends as Obi-Wan and Master Windu prepare for their ground assault. Anakin turns his attention to everyone present, "Alright, Rex, I need you to work with the men to find out how our resources stand, we need to know what we are and aren't capable of now that we're down to one ship. It won't take long to defeat those cruisers, so you focus on that while we clean up."
"Yes, sir," Rex salutes and leaves the room.
"Ahsoka," Anakin moves on to her, "a good Commander always checks in with their troops, I suggest making a few rounds to check on your squad from your mission. After that, well, take a break. I'll call you if and when I need you."
"But what about those ships, Master?"
"Don't worry about them, the clone pilots have got this. Now go."
"Yes, Master," she says and then she too leaves the room.
"And what of me Ani?" Sulani asks.
"You can do whatever you please Mother," he says with a laugh.
"I really didn't do much this time, though," she says. "I'd quite like to be useful for a little while."
"Alright then," he gives in, "go after Rex, I'm sure he'll think of something."
"I shall do that then," she gives one last smile towards Anakin and then she, as the others did, leaves the room to get to work.
A/N: here be the second chapter of the Ryloth arc