A/N~ I know. I should not be delaying an upload for this long. This is still my magnum opus and I'm still lagging behind… For that, I really must apologize for those who have waited this long for a new chapter.

Honestly, three things came about that have slowed my progress on this story.

One, Star Wars has gotten quiet since The Mandalorian's second season ended and I've not felt any momentum to push me to make more Star Wars content like this story. It'll be okay, though. We got The Bad Batch and plenty more on the way, so I'm going to have to exercise patience until then. We've survived content droughts in Star Wars before, so we should be able to survive this one.

Secondly, RWBY just doesn't seem to excite me like it used to. There have been a lot of confusing to baffling decisions made in the story so far that have thrown me out of a loop and it has left me uninspired for quite a while. Thus, I'm going to have to draw the line of where I choose to find and draw elements from the show and just continue on with my own headcanons and takes on this alternate universe.

And finally, to spread some good news, work became a priority, which I'm going to be happy with cos it's been a nice place so far. That means, I'll be writing with extra cheer from here on out.

Expect the long waits to still happen (Hey, I said I'd be writing happier, not faster :p) Plus, I've been working on rewriting some parts of the overall story, so we should be fine from now on.

This is still my main story on the site and I will continue to write it down even if something really kills my interest on RWBY. Star Wars will not die for me, and Monty would want us to enjoy his work, even after he had been gone…

So, I hope I can regain the momentum and start uploading regularly, despite the loss of inspiration and the increasing work. Apologies to everyone for the long wait, and I thank everyone who will stick with this story!

To Befriend a Fool

Friendships come from the heart, not the body or mind...

Republic attack in the works!

After a ruthless siege across the planet Brogundi, Republic forces arrive to take the fight to the Separatist invaders!

Led by Jedi Generals Kenta Barak, Ruby Rose, and Special Forces Commander Pyrrha Nikos, a massive clone army converges to liberate the planet! But as they are galvanized, tensions between Ruby Rose and one Jaune Arc have put the leadership at a standstill!

In the midst of a full assault on the city of Hefrom, the Republic continues to work on its internal problems. Else, they risk failure before the fight even begins…

Triok Canyon,

Brogundi,

Trekmor System,

Mid Rim,

It would have been the time to move and retake Hefrom, and yet, the Republic remained still. The landing zone was idle. Movement was only restricted to the transferring of cargo, marching drills, patrols and inspections, to name a few activities. Otherwise, no one was allowed to move without the orders of the Jedi Generals.

It was a bummer to most of the men and women who were ready to board their transports and take the fight to the enemy; none more so than the fighting force of the resistance, who longed for a renewed offensive on one of their greatest cities. Their homes were under occupation, and they needed to free their people; their families and friends. The orders to stand by only made them angrier as they desperately wished to deploy for battle. Alas, nothing was going to happen, so as long as the Republic was waiting for the go-ahead.

While the signal was still far from given, the Republic remained in their planning phase, assessing their strategies for the upcoming assault. The bulk of the intelligence was centred in a single war room from within a tent. Around the holographic table, two men were monitoring the makeshift image of the city of Hefrom, reanalysing the upcoming scenario.

Among those present was Admiral Leeck, only present in hologram form while he was safely within the bridge of his ship. Standing in front of him would have been Commander Pyrrha Nikos and Jedi Master Kenta Barak. Instead, representing them in their place was Carolina, the clone officer volunteering to brief the admiral on the proposed strike on the city. The clone did his best to stand confident while he reported the battle to the admiral. He was only a private of the 212th when he was reassigned to Pyrrha's command; he didn't expect to last this long before being in the position to address high-ranking leaders like the admiral. His eventual elevation within the ranks left him unprepared to make such meetings, let alone by himself.

"Our scouts have reported that the droids have fully refortified the city." told Carolina. True to his word, the city had been rearmed to withstand a full-scale assault. Around the walls, lines of fortifications surrounded Hefrom, fitted in between with bunkers and tanks. Behind them, several larger cannons were installed, facing up to the sky. "There will be flak cannons all across the outer perimeter of the city walls. Exposed, but not unprotected. Separatists tanks patrol around the outer defences, making a full-frontal assault impossible to pull off without major casualties."

Carolina then zoomed the image, focusing towards the city itself. Within the guarded walls, the whole complex was lit with an ominous coat of red, signifying heavy enemy presence throughout Hefrom.

"Inside will be just as difficult. They've initiated martial law, ensuring an entire day of military surveillance."

"We would need the Jedi to handle this problem. Commander Nikos should also suffice." stated Admiral Leeck, stroking his chin as he was assessing the enemy's strong grip on the city. Noticing the absence of the commanders in question, he pressed it to Carolina. "Where are they now?"

Caught unprepared, Carolina didn't have a solid answer. He was hoping that the Jedi and his superior would come in before the admiral would raise the question. Now that he was still on his own, he had to tell Admiral Leeck of their whereabouts. The problem was; they were dealing with issues that were a little too personal for anyone to be informed of, even high command.

"Uhhh… They're currently settling some… internal problems, sir." said Carolina. It wasn't a lie, at least; just behind where the line was drawn.

"Internal problems? What on Coruscant do you mean, Captain?" Admiral Leeck enquired, forcing a bit of his irritancy to be heard..

"They rather not say, sir." informed Carolina. "Personal issues." The admiral shook his head, placing his fingers onto his wrinkled forehead. There was a war going on and now, of all times, the Jedi had to focus on personal matters? And what about Commander Nikos, who was never one to be away from the priorities of war? Now, they all decided to take some break from the fighting to solve some life's problems?

Well, you can't be picky when it came to the Jedi; they had their own holy ways to tend to. If they wanted to do some isolated case to enhance their capabilities against the droids, then perhaps it would have to do. Pyrrha Nikos was also probably taking this time to do her own meditative activities before the next battle.

"Very well." agreed the admiral. "But we will need them to figure out a plan to liberate Heform. The Senator of Brogundi is getting anxious over the state of his planet. Also, that city is among the closest to the capital. If this attack fails, then this mission will be an unwinnable one, with or without the Jedi."

Carolina exhaled heavily, stress coming out uncomfortably from his nostrils. The admiral was right; the war in Brogundi was at a standstill and the Republic could not afford another defeat in this campaign.

Unfortunately, he knew what the aforementioned issues were. An argument broke out between General Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc over how they operated in Hefrom, coming to blows when each of them proved incompetent or too much to handle for the other. It got so heated that it had to involve the aid of their superiors; Kenta Barak and Pyrrha Nikos respectively.

To Carolina, such a petty argument was childish; a simple spat of who's right or wrong. Something like two kids fighting over a piece of candy.

But the clone knew that, sometimes, the simplest of arguments can very well be strong enough to break alliances… If Ruby and Jaune did not fix their issues with each other soon, it would spell disaster for the Brogundian campaign…

It was discouraged in the Jedi Order to not linger on your anger. If the Council knew how Ruby was feeling right now, she'd be in big trouble. Unfortunately, the young girl didn't care about breaking the rules; she was unable to shake the anger that was seeping inside.

She was at the firing range with Duo and Zee, who accompanied her after her argument with Jaune Arc ended on a very sour note. Her feet pressed hard on the ground with each step, pushed down by fatigue and stress in her head. She grumbled constantly since leaving Hefrom, so much so that the clone and droid were practically absent from her mind.

"Stupid jerk." she mumbled irritably. "Who is he to tell me what's right?"

"Uhhh… if I have to be honest, lass; he did save our butts back there." interjected Duo, but his words fell on deaf ears. If anything, Ruby apparently didn't want to hear any of it. She just kept her back facing her loyal second-in-command as they continued to walk through the area.

"She's not listening to me, is she?" sighed Duo as he faced Zee, who shared his concerns.

Passing through clones here and there, Ruby then settled on blowing off some steam by heading for one of the targeting ranges, where practice dummies were set all across a wide-open lane of dirt. They all had burn marks on their soft cloth fabric, already blasted upon by soldiers who came before.

"I mean; sure, you had to run and help, but didn't he think about letting me know, so I could be more prepared!" she grumbled louder. Her eyes were then set on a weapons rack, seeing the set of DC-15 carbines slotted into it. Wondering what was so hard for Jaune to use these weapons for, she wanted to try them out for herself.

Ruby grabbed one of the blasters, holding it firmly in her hands. She walked to the spot where the men would fire from, aiming down the sights. As she held the weapon like a soldier, she began to assess how easy it seemed to hold it. The weight of the blaster wasn't even heavy to begin with. Her right hand held the barrel in place while the arm that connected it slumped downwards. The left limb held the grip and the elbow was raised upwards; a little too high for a clone's taste.

Duo would have told her that she was holding the blaster a little too oddly, but he figured Ruby wouldn't listen anyway. The Jedi didn't shoot a single bolt, still complaining about the soldier who couldn't listen to orders.

"I would have asked Zee's help sooner if he had just told me!" Tired of her grumbling, Duo decided to take himself away from Ruby's presence and find something a little less irritating. After all, she wouldn't even bother since she was too fixated on lambasting the Arc kid.

"I think I should go check on the men. See 'ya, lass." he said, but as expected, his farewell was left unreciprocated. Zee stayed behind, feeling that he should be the last one to console the Jedi.

Ruby kept aiming the blaster onto one of the training dummies. While she did so, she began to sway around, loosening her focus on the target. Yet again, she was too stubborn to realize it. Forgetting her stance, she fired one shot onto the target, successfully hitting it square on the chest. She pulled the trigger again and it hit the head. Three more shots fired, hitting the arms twice and one more onto the hip.

"And he can't even shoot properly." she still complained. "Is it really that hard to hold a blaster and shoot the droids?" All the while, she kept her sights on the dummy, imagining it to be a battle droid that would be an easy kill for a trained soldier. Her mind was set onto it, losing her grip on the world around her. She fell into this state of focus for a while, ready to spend one last shot onto the head where it would end the target's life. Steadying her finger around the trigger, Ruby was about to make the final shot.

That was when her mind was snapped back to life by a sudden call…

"Ruby."

Ruby's body launched upwards, causing her to lose her grip on the blaster in a state of panic. The carbine fell onto the sandy ground with a loud thud, nearly falling onto her toes. The Jedi bounced up to prevent herself from getting her foot stomped by the fallen weapon. Her heart slowly recuperated from the sudden shock before she turned around to see the person who called her.

Pyrrha Nikos stood against the pillar holding up the roof of the range, flashing her usual smile on the younger Jedi. She had been following Ruby after the argument between her and Pyrrha's partner, suggesting that she'd talk to her about the problem. She felt the frustration in Ruby's heart, slowly drifting off from her body like a heatwave, burning with anger. Her mind was also racing with doubt and stress from combat, poisoning her with insecurity about the people who she deemed failures.

"Ah! Commander Nikos!" gasped Ruby, scrambling to pick up the blaster from the ground. "I… didn't see you there!" It was funny, really. Pyrrha's voice felt so calm and gentle, and apparently, it was enough to scare this young Jedi. Ruby thought she must had been growing stale from this fight…

Looking and feeling Ruby's frustrations and stumbling had left Pyrrha with a burning question that was in her mind ever since she heard about the girl. She was already baffled enough by the fact that the Jedi Council was throwing young children into the war Padawans hurriedly knighted to become Generals before they even began their Trials, younglings being rushed into becoming Padawans for said Generals… It was a very mystifying question that was sure to burn with controversy among those who believed in the Force as much as she did.

But she saw how powerful and effective Ruby's training was. She had seen the recordings and the data about the young Knight's abilities in battle, even watching a bit of her time as a Palawan during the pre-war times. She was glad Ruby was among the more combat-proficient youngsters she had the chance to meet. However, it still egged her that there was still immaturity in her that made her quite distracted from the reality of war.

It was that sense of childish nature that may had played a part in Ruby's hostile relationship with Jaune; the same being vice versa. Pyrrha would have all the time to lecture Jaune about settling differences, but right now, she decided to focus that lesson onto this young Jedi.

A proud and powerful Knight who still behaved like a Padawan…

"You're not holding the blaster properly." Pyrrha laughed.

"Pfft! What makes you say that?" Ruby denied the Commander's comment, stubbornly returning to target practice. "I know my blasters."

"You may know blasters, but have you actually held one like this?" Pyrrha pressed the question further, walking towards Ruby within a close distance to show the Jedi she was here to set things straight. Feeling Pyrrha coming closer, the younger girl did feel a sense of intimidation inside herself, being in the presence of this esteemed military combatant.

"Of course, I did." laughed Ruby. "My Master and I take blasters away from cronies all the time." Pyrrha still did not have her questions satisfied.

"I mean, have you actually gotten the chance to use a blaster?" added Pyrrha. "Did you happen to fire one when the need requires you to?"

"A few times!" Ruby attempted to defend herself. However, her bravado didn't last. She couldn't keep up the façade any longer, as doing so in front of Pyrrha slowly discouraged her from continuing. There was something about the commander that reminded her of Kenta and his authority over her, a trait that overpowered her. Finally, she couldn't lie anymore. "But… I wasn't… very good with them."

Defeated, Ruby wanted to hand the blaster back to Pyrrha. She supposed now she knew her place; blasters were meant for those trained in the military or if they're born in a vat and trained since birth.

When presented with the weapon, however, she felt the carbine being pushed back to her. She saw that smile on Pyrrha's face as the commander gently pushed the blaster towards Ruby, perplexing the Jedi.

"Why not have another go?" suggested Pyrrha. Not wanting to be rude, Ruby decided to follow along the offer. Taking the blaster back, she returned to the firing range, Pyrrha following behind her. At the press of a button of the control panel, Pyrrha flipped the targeting dummies back up for Ruby to shoot.

Beginning the shooting session, Ruby aimed the carbine on the target at the very centre. She pulled the trigger and started shooting that one dummy, hitting it on the chest multiple times. Each hit filled her with elation, hoping that her accuracy would impress Pyrrha. After more hits, Ruby then stopped for a rest, inspecting the damage she had done and waited for the commander's own evaluation.

"You might want to get full headshots for faster finishes. Aim for the head." advised Pyrrha. To be honest, it felt jarring to teach a child a thing or two about finding faster ways to end a life. But she supposed she could find solace in the notion that they were still fighting battle droids, after all.

Ruby returned to her position and aimed her blaster again. She took her aim the exact same way she did before with a little more pressure to her aim, pouring in all of her focus by gripping the weapon harder, as she would hold onto her lightsaber. Finally, honing all her might, she fired her shot. Unfortunately, that one bolt barely missed the head, zooming right off.

"Drgh!" One miss was all it took to frustrate the Jedi, throwing her back with a groan. Ruby fell back, lowering her head down and slumping her blaster down to her knees, cursing inside. Great! The one chance to impress Pyrrha Nikos, to show her that she could do more than just wing a lightsaber and use the Force, gone...

However, Pyrrha didn't feel any pride nor disappointment in Ruby's error. She expected just as much from her performance in the range, as the young Jedi was trained to use a more civilized weapon all her life. Holding a blaster was either foreign or just not her style.

Regardless, there was a spark of confidence in Ruby that made Pyrrha smile. Beneath the stubborn exterior of a Padawan forced into the life of a General, there was still the young, naïve little girl who was passionate of her aspirations of peace and an end to this bloody conflict. All Pyrrha needed to do was to bring out that inner child, just as she found Jaune's own inner warrior.

While Ruby was still sulking in her failed attempt, Pyrrha bent down to grasp the girl's shoulders, catching her by surprise. She closed her eyes and concentrated, transferring her aura to the Jedi. To Ruby's added surprise, she felt the Force flowing from Pyrrha to her. No one who wasn't a Jedi was able to do that. How could she feel a strong presence in its power in someone like Pyrrha? The Force existed in all living things, as Master Yoda put it. But not everyone could harness its power like this. Pyrrha's sudden use of the Force mystified her, as if a thousand questions surged into her at once.

"Let the Force flow through you. Allow it to channel through your body and help you adjust to the weapon. Release yourself of all your anxieties and feel the power swim ever so calmly in your body." But on Pyrrha's word, Ruby ignored her questions and gave in to her connection to the Force. The aura was as calm and soothing as the sound of her voice, tranquil but powerful. It even amazed her more just feeling how much power Pyrrha had for a non-Force-sensitive. Her mind was slowly made gentle by the calm touch of Pyrrha's energy remedying through her body.

Her mind was clear of all anger and fatigue, fresh with a new feeling of serenity and peace. The hold on her blaster as good as new, the warmth made by her long grip cooled as if hadn't been touched. This rejuvenation helped Ruby feel energized enough to try again, concentration restored.

Fully recuperated, Ruby returned to the course and aimed for the dummy again. With her mind fresh, she took her time and slowly focused her mind rather than her body towards the target. She closed her eyes and let the Force flow through her into the blaster, just as she would her lightsaber, instead of the dummy.

Finally, once she harnessed enough power, Ruby opened her eyes, setting her sights on the dummy and pulled the trigger, not trying to direct her shot on it and just let the Force do its work. The shot fired out of the barrel and headed straight for its destination. The bolt then hit its mark, right onto the small dot on its face.

Pyrrha's smile grew with satisfaction, delighted that Ruby had learnt and picked up from her meditative aid. Once she saw the successful hit singe through the dummy's head, Ruby pumped her fists in a cheer, giggling with glee.

"Very good." commented Pyrrha.

"I guess you're right." said Ruby as she handed the blaster back to Pyrrha. "Using these weapons ain't really a Jedi thing, huh?" The commander then placed the carbine down on the ground before seating herself down on a bench, allowing Ruby to sit opposite her on another.

"How do you know so much about the Force, Pyrrha?" asked Ruby, remembering the connection she felt with Pyrrha.

"The Jedi are not the only people in the galaxy who can feel its presence, you know?" laughed Pyrrha. "We have lots of spiritual training in Anima. The monks teach us about how the Force lives in all beings, and that if we concentrate enough, we can feel it, too."

"Oooohh…" Like listening to a bedtime story, Ruby was fascinated by the fact that there was an order within Pyrrha's home that trained its followers in the ways of the Force. Another collection of Force-believing sects in the galaxy that she had learned from numerous other stories and lectures from the Jedi Archives; people who not only acknowledge its presence, but also learn to utilize it to a degree, much like those warrior monks from Jedha.

But Pyrrha was not here to tell a story. She wasn't here to captivate the Jedi with interesting tales from across the galaxy. No, she was here to end a very troubling issue that was about to put a stake in their current mission, and it had to involve Ruby.

"And you know what else I feel?" said Pyrrha, with her smile turning upside down. "I sense your frustration."

"What? Me? Frustrated?" laughed Ruby, attempting to shift Pyrrha's attention away from how she truly felt. "Wh-what makes you think of that?"

"It's easy for you to react, jumping to conclusions, and above all else, does first and plans later." Pyrrha told, counting the facts down with her fingers. Shocked, Ruby couldn't speak in defence, flabbergasted by the things she accused her of. Things… that turned out to be true.

Come to think of it; now that she knew she could feel the Force as well; she could sense it just as easily. So, after failing to feign her innocence, the Jedi was forced to accept that she did have frustration inside of her. Sighing, she dropped her head down to face her knees, unable to look at Pyrrha straight to the face.

"Was it that obvious?" she asked sheepishly.

"As clear as the Nabooian skies." said Pyrrha.

"Alright! Fine! I do have a problem." groaned Ruby.

"With Jaune?" interjected Pyrrha. Ruby didn't need to hide her doubts; it was already obvious to everyone that she was fed up with the boy she was forced to partner with. His lack of combat skills didn't really help enough, but he was also prone to running off without her consent, leaving her to be swarmed by battle droids on her own.

She did not want to doubt Pyrrha's choice for combat partner, for she was still the champion the Republic needed for this operation. It did make it all the more baffling as to why she would choose a disobedient wimp to fight this war with her.

"I mean, why in Malachor is he so sloppy?" complained Ruby. "He could have been a decent soldier on the battlefield, handled his gun and shot his targets properly! Who teaches him to fire a blaster anyway?"

"Ahem…" Pyrrha cleared her throat, taking a jab on that last bit of the complaint, to have it bite back at Ruby. The Jedi shook when she realized her rant a little too late, apologetically chuckling.

"Oh… right. Sorry." she said.

"Ruby." sighed Pyrrha. "I know Jaune may be a bit… loose. But deep down inside, there is a soldier just waiting to burst out at the seams."

"Then why doesn't he show it?" whined Ruby. The reality was much harder on her than she refused to admit. Where was the legendary Arc wit? The brave and honourable warrior who would charge in battle with nothing more than a sword and a shield, who would follow orders without question? Where was all of that? Even if Jaune was fresh, there should at least be something there to pull him through, right?

At this, Pyrrha frowned. Ruby's childish inquisitive nature was becoming a problem in this conversation and Pyrrha needed to get rid of it fast.

She understood how attached to the stories Ruby was. As a kid herself, she was enamoured by the countless tales of battle and honour that inspired her to take up the military in the first place. At first, she too had the dreams of being among the greats, to be in the grace of those who prevailed in real battle. Once she grew more into her teenage years, however, the glorified dreams were nothing but a sham, a ruse to patronize children into joining a patriotic cause. Only through war did Pyrrha finally experience the reality of combat and the losses she sustained.

In the end, there was nothing dignifying in fighting a war; only achieving peace and the defence of innocents were the most rewarding aspects of winning.

If all the Jedi was going to have is nothing but premonitions of what a hero should be, then she was only going to disappoint herself even further. She could not keep depending on old tales to determine who or what Jaune was. And true to this; Pyrrha knew that the legendary Jedi Knights were probably far from what the stories told her of. No one was perfect, not even the best-trained soldiers or the peacekeepers of the Force.

"You should know that not all soldiers are full of bravado." she reminded.

"But he's an Arc. He's supposed to be heroic." defended Ruby.

"Do not let some old legends tell you what an Arc, or even a Nikos like me, can or cannot do. Though there are some truths in them, sometimes you can't always trust what you read." told Pyrrha, finally putting emphasis on telling Ruby that she should not be so keen on believing the things she'd been told. "Those legends are nothing but. Just old stories for the kids and their imagination."

Ruby wanted to speak out more, still letting the frustration and lack of order motivate her into speaking lowly of the boy. The fact that Jaune was still chosen by an experienced commander, let alone Pyrrha herself, continued to play into her doubts. She used to think that the Arc family only chose the warriors with the most merit, the bravest of hearts and the most honour in their souls.

Jaune did not seem to grasp any of these. He was cowardly; weeping from anything that came his way. He was foolish; turning to run and do his own thing when she needed him more. And on top of that, he argued against her, proving that he was disobedient. In all, he had proven to be the total opposite of what Ruby imagined him and his family to be.

But then, after more pressure from Pyrrha, the Jedi Knight finally stopped. Her voice could not escape in anger, just minor stuttering clicks tapping out from her breath. Suddenly, in her body, there was a new reseeding pause in her mind.

She was now considering what she had said to Pyrrha and vice versa. After being given the advice by the commander, she was hit hard by her words. Slowly, they started to crawl into her head, filling her with realization and consideration over the truth in those words.

It was then she remembered that she had been given similar advice by Master Yoda.

To embrace the path to peace, a Jedi is… But to revel in glory as a warrior, a Jedi does not…

One too many times, when she was a Padawan, she and her Master were often graced, even worshipped, by countless beings who were told of the great legends of the Order and how they were hailed as 'great warriors'. While the Jedi's history of war is expansive, the ideals and the motivations they had fighting these conflicts weren't as well documented.

In more ways than one, the wider galaxy knew very little of the true nature of the Jedi, just as how little Ruby seemed to know about the Arc family…

Eventually, she knew Pyrrha was right. It took her a while, but she finally realized how far she had gone to believing that a boy could be all powerful just by being part of a story. The real deal isn't always what you make it out to be…

Finally, Ruby felt the guilt taking over. Remembering the arguments and the moments of frustration she had towards Jaune, she had finally come to her senses, making herself feel like a fool; like a child having to come to terms with a busted myth. All this time, she had wrongfully asserted too much control and authority over the boy when he was only doing what was right.

And that was what hurt the most; that she looked down on him when he was saving those who needed him. She had to remember how many times she had to risk the integrity of her previous missions to save her friends. Looking back at that, Ruby was feeling even worse, thinking she was becoming nothing more than a hypocrite, when in reality, she and Jaune were not very different after all.

Ruby could not look straight, her sights glued to the ground below her feet. Her mood was now softened, wrecked with guilt because she hadn't been the leader she needed to be, despite Jaune's shortcomings.

Pyrrha could feel the anxiety now shrouding all over Ruby. It was quite saddening to see a young girl like her to feel discouraged. But at the same time, the Mistralian commander was also delighted that the Jedi had seen her mistakes. It left her with the chance to give Ruby a push forward. She reached her hand out and patted the younger girl by the shoulder, catching Ruby's attention. With her gentle smile, she gave her the assurance she needed to heal her aching heart.

"Give Jaune some time." reminded Pyrrha, speaking from her previous experience having him by her side. "He actually saved my life before, putting it over his to finish a mission. Also, he understands his mistakes, and he would do his best to make up for them.

"Beneath that shaky exterior, Jaune Arc is a very promising soldier. A brave man who speaks and does from the heart." The more Pyrrha spoke, the more acceptant Ruby felt. Forgetting Pyrrha's own reputation as one of the bravest warriors of Remnant, she began to see her as someone more than just any soldier. She was like a loving mother who not only cares for her children, but also someone who encourages them to grow on their own. It was clear that she thought highly of Jaune, like she didn't choose him because he was an Arc. She chose him because, probably, she must have seen him as something more.

Ruby couldn't pick it out, but she couldn't help but feel a tiny feeling of admiration in Pyrrha's voice, like genuine care for a man who she only met for a short while. That passionate feeling felt… unknown to her. It still did give Ruby an understanding of just how much Pyrrha truly cared for Jaune, not just as a combat partner, but also as a friend.

Inspired by her words, the Jedi's guilt had vanished, inspired to make good on Pyrrha's word, for the sake of the people of the planet. She was still reluctant, but she knew she had to carry on and help Jaune any way she could. Forget the legends and embrace the way people truly are.

"I'll do it." vowed the Jedi, pumping her fists. Hearing this, Pyrrha could finally feel good about Ruby's vow.

Kenta Barak was right about Ruby; she definitely knew when to cheer you up, especially when she brings herself back up. Such a childlike charm felt very motivating, far more than any other child her age. Ruby's skills in combat were warranted, but it was her soul and strong connection to the Force that truly cemented her place in this war. Pyrrha's fears of the Jedi's inability to survive in this needless conflict were dispelled. Not completely, but largely enough to forget all of her current doubts.

"Thanks, Ruby." thanked Pyrrha. The two shared a heartful smile towards each other, giving Pyrrha more of a taste of the Jedi's warm, contagious charm. To play off on this, she decided to have a little fun with the girl, perhaps learn more about her character; a little R&R to get some bonding done before the next phase of the attack. "How about a little game? Think you can shoot down more than me within two minutes?"

Smirking at the challenge, Ruby rose up and proceeded to pull another blaster from the rack with the Force into her hands. With the two girls now armed, Ruby was willing to accept a little fun challenge to ease her stress a little more, grinning back at the commander to affirm her acceptance to the game.

"I don't think. I do."

There was no amount of words to describe Jaune's frustration…

The boy was sat on a crate, fiddling with his fingers while his head was being messed around by stress and vexation. The back of his heel tapped against the box underneath him every second as he pondered about his last mission. Sitting alone, isolated from his friends, unable to face anyone without looking calm or reserved.

No one else seemed to pay attention to him; clones and other soldiers alike were too busy setting up for the eventual assault to even care about what he thought. He could use the peace and quiet though. With no one to bother him, Jaune was content to just ventilate in solitude.

He was freed from the matters of fighting the droid army with only a handful of guerrilla fighters, and yet, he couldn't sit back and relax. He did not want to face Ruby for a while after the mess of a mission they both had back at Hefrom. The argument they had was still vivid in his mind. His annoyance at how childishly bossy she was when it came to giving orders and how snarky she got when he failed to match up against the enemy, still lingered.

Things worked out in the end for the resistance. If he didn't come in and save them, they would have been ripped apart by the droids. He prevented the unnecessary loss of life for them to live on and fight another day. So, why was this Jedi, someone Jaune thought would put the lives of others ahead of themselves, telling him that he had more important matters at hand than protecting those he felt were worth saving?

Usually, when Jaune was being rebuked for failing to comply to orders, he was sure he deserved it; it was mostly his fault that things happened. This time, he had every reason to defy Ruby's orders. He had to save Krul, the face of Brogundi's resistance against the Separatists, from being wasted away like some mere casualty of war and, in the process, saved his fellow men and clones from meeting the same fate.

"Why does she act like such a hothead?" He kept telling himself, mumbling under his breath to avoid any attention onto himself, especially Ruby.

However, someone did hear him, and he was behind the boy to let him know that his little self-talk hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Hmmm, I ask myself the same question every time." The voice spooked Jaune to the core, causing him to jump in utter shock as he turned to see who was stalking him. He developed these reflexes pretty much throughout his academy life, when bullies would sneak up and do him in. Clearly, those same reflexes worked a little too well.

"EEK!" squealed Jaune as he saw who was talking to him.

"Sorry. Did I scare you?" laughed Kenta Barak, amused by the startled boy's reaction.

"N-no, sir!" lied Jaune. "Just… uh… startled by a bug."

"Really?" Kenta crossed his arms together, grinning at the boy for his poor attempt to push his suspicions away. "Last I checked; insects can't thrive well on this planet." Cursing in his head, Jaune winced. Of course, the Jedi would be steps ahead of other, less-gifted individuals. There was no fooling them nor was it even worth hiding your emotions and thoughts since they could sense everything about you. Such were the fables of their intuitive power through the Force. Pyrrha had cleared up as many of the misconceptions about the Jedi as possible for him, but he felt like there was so much more to learn about them.

"Okay. You got me." sighed Jaune, forced back into the interrogative grace of a Jedi. He continued to bend forward in dire stress, not even trying to hide the fact he was upset from Kenta. It was their first real meeting since the team returned from Hefrom, so Jaune had no idea how to proceed with the interaction between academy rookie and Jedi Master.

The Jedi Master walked over to tend to the boy, sitting himself on the crate next to Jaune. Dusting his robes up, he then turned to talk to him, willing to put some sense back in his head.

"Something troubling you, Jaune?" he asked. Jaune took a while as hesitated to admit his beef with Ruby to her Master. What was he going say about them? Whose side of the debate was he on? The bond between Master and Padawan was not unheard of, suggesting that they have a close bond with each other. It was very likely that Kenta would take Ruby's side because of their long history together. Or could it be that the bond was that between teacher and student, that any mistake Ruby would make would warrant some lecture to put her in her place?

One thing was clear, all the same; Kenta was here to talk things out, and what side of the argument he chose to take, Jaune was prepared to listen to it all.

"Trust me, Jaune." said Kenta. "I've looked after Ruby ever since she was only a toddler. I should know how impatient she gets."

"Glad to know it's in her blood." scoffed Jaune.

"Oh, you better hope she doesn't catch you saying that." joked Kenta. However, the joke only seemed to startle Jaune, rather than amuse him.

"A-are you going to tell her?" he choked a bit.

"I might." laughed Kenta. "Depends if she needs to hear it or not." Jaune chuckled embarrassingly, forcing a smile at the Jedi. He didn't want to look idiotic in front of such a venerable Jedi Master, what little he knew of him at least. Too late for that, it seemed…

But Kenta was not here to play tricks on the boy. He sensed the growing discontent between Jaune and Ruby when they returned to base, and got the gist of it when they began to argue upon landing. From what he could pick up from both, he felt that, while not on the level of resentment, their growing hostility was going to be a hinderance to their performance in battle. For better or worse, as long as Pyrrha Nikos was under his command, Ruby and Jaune were going to work together far more than they would like. If they weren't going to get along, then at least they should function better as allies under their respective superiors' watch.

"I can tell how frustrated you are, Jaune. You can't bottle up your emotions for long." said Kenta.

After holding it in for so long, Jaune let out a disgruntled sigh, unable to keep his thoughts away from a Jedi. What was the point anyway? There was no fooling a Jedi, so he had to let it out somehow.

"I'm sorry, sir." he spoke, finally letting go. "But why does Ruby act like she has to be the boss of everything? Krul needed me and I had to run and save him." He stood up, crossing his arms together as he poured his emotions out to the Jedi, thinking back at the time where people needed him the most in the face of certain doom. "People's lives were at stake and all she wanted to do to be the hero was to slice down a walker."

"I know she wanted to finish the job, but there were people who were needed. I had to save Krul to save the resistance. I couldn't stand around and do nothing while he was about to be killed by the enemy." As he ranted on, Jaune kept his feelings at bay, focusing the bulk of his fury on Ruby. Her stubbornness filled the boy with utter vexation, her childish banter a source of irritation. She screamed for him to buck up whenever he fell, but when he was meant to save others, she still decried him for incompetence.

As he sat himself back down, flustered but a little embarrassed by flushing it all out in front of a Jedi Master, he breathed in again, cooling his heavy heart while rubbing the sides of his head.

"I don't know why she was picked for this." he said. "No offense, Master Jedi. But I don't think Ruby should be here to lead well-trained troops into battle." He continued to sit idly by, pondering whether the tales were really true. Weren't the Jedi supposed to be protectors of the peace? Defenders of the innocent and needy? Was it wrong to forgo any mission to save lives no matter how dire things got? These were the venerable knights of the light that kept people alive and safe from all evil. For one to abandon such tenants was a smack in the face for Jaune.

Despite how he felt. Jaune couldn't face Kenta as he admitted his thoughts. There was no way he'd like to see a Jedi react to his outburst against the people of his Order.

But when Kenta spoke next, bracing for the response, Jaune was about to have a bit of the wise Master's words.

"It's admirable to hear that you care for people, Jaune." praised Kenta, surprising Jaune. The optimism, however, didn't last. "But did you ever wonder if Ruby really could handle those droids on her own? "

At once, Jaune was stunned. And yet, he was given a chance to act on those words when the Jedi continued to push him down with more questions. Each time Kenta asked on, the boy kept giving himself more to think about.

"Was it because she was a Jedi, that she would be able to come out unscathed?" For a moment, Jaune did remember leaving Ruby behind, just so she could take on the droids while he went to save Krul. Again, the premonitions of the power of a Jedi gave him the assumption that she could indeed handle the enemy on her own. He didn't seem to bother about whether or not the tales were true. Only now did he realize how presumptuous he was of her capabilities. He basically left Ruby to fend for herself, without ever considering if she could really fight the droids on her own.

Knowing that he had struck a chord in Jaune's mind, Kenta continued to push forward.

"And if anything happened to her, what would happen next?"

Again, Jaune was forced to think of a scenario where Ruby would indeed fall. Had she been unable to withstand an attack for long, perhaps she could have been the one to be killed that time. If she died, who knew what would happen to the war on the part of Kenta's forces? She was someone clearly important to the man; her loss would be a blow to the Master.

"Because she's younger than you, you think she was not meant to be here?" continued Kenta. "If I remember correctly, you're seventeen, and you think that's a safe age for war?"

"I…" The more Kenta pushed towards Jaune, the more on edge he was. Unable to keep up, Jaune was left with no words to explain himself, much less counter what the Jedi said. Each question forced upon him brought more regret to the boy, giving him a better look at things he did not have the time to consider. It was like war had blinded him from other alternatives to the fight, conceptions that were side-lined by mere myth and fables lost to him. Once, he thought the Jedi were invincible. Now, he had to be reminded that stories can't always be believed as fact.

The weight of the truth was already bearing down on Jaune harder than any bombardment. His mouth was already sealed shut from stunned silence and his heart was burdened by guilt. He was calling fowl on Ruby's decisions, calling her brash and arrogant, always seeking glory before honour. Now, Jaune was contemplating about how pushy he was about the girl, feeling no different than who he said she was.

Kenta simply sighed. Resisting the urge to press on, he decided to switch his tone. Jaune was already pushed to the brink, questioning his point of view on the battle. He was here to help Jaune, not break him further. That was what Jedi were meant to do.

The clones may have had unbreakable loyalty to their superiors and were fully devoted to the cause. But Jaune, much like the resistance fighters he fought with, was a pure lifeform. He did not have his genetics enhanced and tampered with by cloners. There was no perfect sense of duty that put him on the right path. He was a flawed human being, capable of making and fixing his mistakes. He was someone who deserved to have another chance to make things right, and that shall happen if Jaune understood Ruby a little bit more.

"I understand Ruby may be a bit… overdramatic." sighed Kenta. "But make no mistake; she does care for those people too." Jaune couldn't deny it. Despite how dismissive she might had been, Ruby did put the safety and liberation of the Brogundian people at heart. "However, she also knows where her priorities lie. She put her faith in her men that they could prevent any losses. Even if they couldn't, those men would put their lives on the line to ensure that this planet is liberated."

The clones, too, were there to do what he would do as best they could. Jaune had known how capable these soldiers were from his previous experiences in the war. But his loyalty to his friends outgrew his faith in others to do the job for him. In the end, he not only jeopardized Ruby's life, but also nearly undermined the role of the troopers as well. While nothing was wrong about helping them, he would have given them the chance to do what they were meant to do.

"You have to trust in people, Jaune. No matter how impulsive, reckless, or even clumsy they could be." told Kenta.

The guilt lingered in Jaune, keeping him thinking about how things would have gone horribly wrong if Ruby didn't somehow survive her lone stand, when he abandoned her to save someone else who was already in good hands. Because of this, he had broken the trust between Jedi and soldier.

He couldn't keep this grudge going; he never should have started it in the first place. As hot-tempered as the girl may had been, she had the right to be mad at him for bailing out on her. It was he who was in the wrong for assuming that Ruby would fare on her own, so it was his time to fix things between them.

Mustering up a sad smile, Jaune vowed to settle things straight with Ruby. It wouldn't be an easy task, but he felt it was the right thing to do. Even as Kenta smiled back, however, he wasn't entirely sure Jaune was entirely fine after their talk. Doubt was still inside his mind, holding him back from fully accepting the terms of his situation with Ruby, as if there were still things that he wanted to resolve before he could finally put it all to rest.

"And that's not all that's bothering you, is there?"

"I just want Ruby to see that I'm not some douchebag. I know I can break my cowardly shell and fight like a real soldier. To fight alongside the Jedi is a real honour to the family." told Jaune. The Arc family was always a respectful ally to the Jedi Order ever since the Great War. Ever since then, any time the family was to serve alongside the Order was to be of great honour and valour.

Jaune never thought his turn to fight with one would start out badly, and such a first impression soured his expectations even further. After being assured by the Master, he now wanted to regain their respect. The only thing stopping him, however, was his inability to fight properly as a soldier worthy of their might. He felt inadequate as a companion to Pyrrha before, so that didn't stop him from feeling the same when two knights of the Jedi Order joined the picture. Such powerful beings in their midst, at such short notice, brought great pressure on Jaune into feeling burdened of being weak and inferior in their eyes.

"Pyrrha has kept you this far, right?" asked Kenta, taking note of the fact that Jaune was, inf act, still there, sitting by his side, talking to him about being unfit to fight. If he was the things he said he was, then the boy would have not been by the Jedi's side to begin with. he'd be stuck at his academy, lagging far behind.

"Yeah." said Jaune. Kenta then placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking him gently.

"Then I believe you can pull it off." he assured him.

"At least that makes three of us." sighed Jaune, still unenthused completely.

"Just calm down and be yourself." reminded Kenta. "Don't let our presence push your expectations too hard. Just be you."

"I'm touched and all, General. But… I'm sure being 'me' hasn't sunk in Ruby at all."

"Ruby is not that stubborn, Jaune." said Kenta. He may have had his own troubles mentoring a girl so stubborn and energetic. But while Jaune had his right to judge Ruby, Kenta had to be reminded of what drove her to be the Jedi she thrived to be. "I mean; how do you think she's gone this far? She listens. Even if she doesn't want to, at times, she'll come to it at the end."

Ruby was not entirely rebellious towards him; she did have humility to listen to him when she needed to improve. It wasn't easy to get her to stay still and listen, but she wasn't

"She will listen to you, if you give her a reason to. But that won't happen if you let yourself down and always think of her as your superior. You both should be equals. Ruby and I may be the ones leading the fight, but if we're all going to fight on the same side, you should try and level up with her, not be below her."

On the other hand, it was easy for people to get swept up in the stories of the Jedi being powerful warriors. Those who would join them in battle would feel more than humbled by the sheer presence of knights, watching for themselves of the power of their lightsabers and their manipulation of the Force to influence the outcomes of conflicts abound. how easy it was, however, for people to overestimate the Order, especially in these trying times…

All Jaune had to do was to stop pulling himself back and be more assertive to his role as a soldier, not confined by the mere conceptions of all-powerful Jedi, and be their equals.

"When the time comes, then you can show her what you can do. Together, on the same level, you both can overcome many obstacles."

That was how he and Pyrrha managed to fight their previous battles. Even if Pyrrha was the leading figure in the squad, they both trusted each other, giving out orders and strategizing equally among themselves. By going with the flow, they were able to overcome the odds and swipe victory at the moment of their greatest stress.

If Jaune could just be a little more patient and stand up for himself more, he might just be able to get Ruby's respect. Getting a girl's good graces back wasn't going to be an easy road ahead, given his experience having multiple sisters in one family. But that would be a challenge he was willing to take.

Finally, Jaune was able to make one warm smile, thankful to the Jedi Master for consoling him. He wondered if it was the power of a Jedi that made it work so well, before dismissing that thought, coming to accept that it was just another kind gesture from a normal person's heart. Kenta, in turn, grinned back, satisfied that the boy finally found the strength to move forward again.

Before they could stand up, they were met by Carolina, who came up to speak to the Jedi Master. Kenta paid attention to the clone, listening to what he was going to report on. With his hands behind his back, the clone advisor greeted the Jedi and told him what was going on.

"Sir. Admiral Leeck would like a word with you."

Within the shadowy shade of the command tent, Pyrrha had made contact with Admiral Leeck, standing next to Ruby as they stood in front of the holographic image of the man as it was projected above a meeting table. Safely on board his ship, with his hands crossed together, the old man was getting impatient with the stalemate happening during the battle. Even as he continued to discuss about the ongoing battle against the Separatists, updates on the field proved no conciliation for the admiral who has had countless experiences fighting insurgents in the Tromere Skirmishes.

Pyrrha stood ever so attentively, feeling slightly frustrated about the lack of progress as well. Her foot tapped up and down, the most she could muster to express said stress. As tenuous as the situation may had been, she chose to keep cool to avoid any unnecessary expressions.

Which was more than she could say for Ruby Rose. The young Knight stood with even less composure than Pyrrha did, heart racing with greater fire burning with anticipation. Her body swayed around, contrasting with Pyrrha's still one. Her patience was already thin when they got word of Hefrom's fortifications, making her feel on edge. The people of the city were being walled in during a much direr state, the thought of civilians being harassed further by the enemy was pushing her even more to take action.

"Can't you provide us any air support?" urged Ruby. With the Admiral's refusal to send in fighters to deal with the enemy defences, her eagerness to fight soared. If the Navy wasn't going to be of any help, then she felt like she should just take on the droid army all by herself if she had to.

As bold and admirable as the Jedi was, the Admiral had to be realistic. A child's desire for things to get better paled in comparison to the need to achieve victory against an enemy so mechanical and vile. He wanted nothing more than to see Dooku's armies burn and destroyed before his eyes, but as a man of strategic prowess, he could not deny haphazard decisions and actions could result in total defeat.

"I'm afraid not, General." Leeck sighed with the shake of his head. "The city has been fortified with twice the count of droid forces. It's going to be near impossible to attack Hefrom without suffering major losses." Ruby wanted to argue, but she knew better than to defy a man so experienced in battles more than many Jedi of her time would.

"The Separatists know that we will try to attack Hefrom." commented Pyrrha, still trying to assess the holographic image of Hefrom still transmitting below the spilt half of Admiral Leeck's body. "It's the only city separating them and the capital, and their best chance at winning this battle."

Eventually, the two were joined by newcomers into the tent. Their attention turned to the two men who entered through the sliding doors to book themselves into the meeting.

Ruby had her eyes set on the blonde boy who was by her Master's side, casting an uncomfortable gaze at him. When she would respond with anger and distress towards the seemingly incompetent soldier earlier, she now stopped herself from exploding, feeling more guilty and hesitant to address him than angered. With Pyrrha's story and advice cemented into her memory, Ruby had to be more considerate to not cause another scene with Jaune, remembering the word she was meant to keep.

Little did she know, however, that Jaune was feeling the same way. Not as hostile towards her now, the boy was still unable to look the girl in the eye, forcefully fixated on the ground as they came in. It seemed the two were too reluctant to say anything to each other, unaware that they were both thinking about trying to reconcile to the other.

Without saying a word, both the Jedi Master and the soldier joined Pyrrha and Ruby in the discussion. After being briefly retold of the status on Hefrom, everyone had to think for more suggestions, any tactics that would break them into the city without suffering a major loss of life and resources.

"We'll need to reconsider our strategy here." commented Kenta. "Plan out something to weaken them from the inside." It was then that Pyrrha had to result to using the old tactics that she had used previously. Since there was no going through the heavy defences, the only way to enter Hefrom was to do it quietly.

"We can sneak inside and infiltrate the comms tower again." suggested Pyrrha. "That way; we can sabotage their communications and render their defences useless." Her suggestion brought a bit of discomfort to Jaune, having to relive those moments within the city. From the hectic fighting to the argument he had with Ruby, the boy thought he had seen enough of the dire state of Hefrom for a while. Eventually, they would still have to attack somehow, but having to go back there while it was still on lockdown brought chills down his spine.

"The only problem is; how do we get in there this time?" added Kenta. "The inside's just as heavily defended as the outside. It'll take a miracle to even step a foot in there." Pyrrha nodded, forced to accept that even the stealth approach was of no use this time. The enemy would have learned their lesson by now and would have strengthened their garrison with twice the manpower to secure the inner complex.

The four was left with very few options left. They stood in silence, still contemplating about what other moves they could make. At this point, they didn't care how minor any method would be, just as long as it could ever make any progress. Unfortunately, it seemed like they were completely squeezed in, with nothing to work on that was feasible enough for a safe and secured victory.

At this rate, if nothing was going to work, then there were only two ways this battle was going to go. Go all-in with a frontal assault, or simply concede control of Hefrom to the Separatists and find other ways to win this campaign. No one liked either choice for no matter what they would do, it was going to be costly. Hefrom had to be taken for the best chance for a Republic victory.

For now, all seemed hopeless… until Jaune spoke up.

"Um, sir?" the boy stuttered, unsure of himself. He hesitated about speaking up, but his heart told him to go for it.

"What is it, Jaune?" called Kenta as everyone's eyes focused on Jaune. The sudden pull of attention towards him stunned him a little, but he kept on going, willing to put in one plausible way into Hefrom.

"I was thinking…" he began. "They must have a way to transport supplies into the city, right? Do you think we can smuggle ourselves in and sneak inside? Board one of their transports and infiltrate the city?"

"Well, there's only one transport lane registered for supply lines." Pyrrha was quick to point out Jaune's suggested move. It was indeed one of many ideas she had as she was assessing her plan to return to the city. Unfortunately, like all the other ideas, it wasn't going to work. It seemed like it was one of the best options to enter Hefrom, but the droids' hold on it put paid to it. "But they will have security measures to prevent stowaways or infiltrators from getting sneaky with them."

Jaune felt deflated, discouraged after being unable to get one plan to work and putting themselves back at square one. It was worth a shot, however. It may had not come to fruition, but he felt a little easy knowing that he tried to help. Perhaps, with a little help, someone could help him make his idea work.

And that was just about to happen from an unlikely source…

"I… might be able to lend a hand on that plan." Jaune perked up when he heard Ruby speak up, actually agreeing to his plan.

The Jedi Knight rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly speaking out to support Jaune's plan. It was a move that not only surprised Jaune, but made Pyrrha and Kenta feel a bit of joy as well. The two superiors weren't really shocked by the sudden move. They just felt that it was quite quick for Ruby to diminish all doubt and anger she had for the boy. Alas, they did not expect the hostility to last and were thankful that the girl was willing to step in and give Jaune a chance.

In fact, Ruby surprised herself, after taking a moment to realize she was backing him up. Her opinion on him hadn't really changed, having not seen him fully in action to change her mind. But a plan was a plan, and when Jaune brought his up, Ruby felt a small part of her wanting to back him up. At least, for now, there was something he suggested that she could follow him for. Other than that, her desperate need to save the lives trapped in Hefrom compelled her to join Jaune in his plan to disrupt the enemy from within.

She would still have to deal with his lack of skills. But with Pyrrha's advice in mind, she was more willing to take the challenge and push him forward as best she could. The Jedi showed her confidence to all in the room with a confident smirk on her face. Jaune couldn't help but smile as well, grateful that Ruby did have some empathy for his idea.

"General. What you and Private Arc are suggesting is suicide." urged Admiral Leeck, being the more cautious one in the room. "The city's defences will be far too dangerous for a young Jedi and a mere soldier to sneak past. It is virtually impossible to infiltrate the communications tower now."

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other for a while, wanting to see if they were both in on the plan. Once they thought about it, they were able to get past their grudges and agree that they were on the same boat. While that boat may be rocky, the course they were taking was still very clear, and as long as they keep themselves steady, their trip would be smooth eventually.

"Such odds never stopped me, Admiral." explained Jaune. "I will make sure that tower is secured."

"Leave it to us, sir." added Ruby. The Admiral pinched the bridge of his nose, while he let out a stressed sigh from his mouth. Shaking his head, he could not bear to look at Ruby and Jaune without fearing the worst out of them. He loathed the idea of children being sent to fight his battles, despite how special these two teenagers were to the commanders present.

Nevertheless, Leeck decided not to let his pessimism cloud his judgement. In the end, the children he was fearful of losing were not just any children. Truth be told; it was easier to trust the girl. Never underestimate the power of the Jedi, even those only young enough to be his grandchildren. Trusting Jaune Arc, on the other hand, was a little harder to swallow. Given the reports he was given based on the boy's performance, needless to say; the admiral was less than pleased to hear about an Arc who was far from decent soldier material.

"I hate to see young ones throw their own lives away in desperate times like this." he admitted. Despite how he felt, Leeck had to place his faith on the two people responsible for the pair. "But I will trust the judgement of your superiors in this matter." The elderly man veered towards the Jedi Master and the commanding officer responsible for the Arc boy, ready to lock in his final decision based on their input. "Are you two certain that these two have a chance?"

Kenta looked at the two kids as they glanced back at him, waiting for him to make his case. Although he was a little worried for Ruby, as usual, he did not wish to pull her back from serving a higher cause. She was able to prove to him that she could finish dangerous situations on her own, so there was no doubt she would be willing to make this trip as well. Once again, the protective side of the Master casted doubts in the man, compelling him to step in and stop Ruby from getting herself killed, as always.

But that was why Kenta had to remind himself again; Ruby was no longer a Padawan. As rushed as her knighting was, she quickly adapted to the chaos and propelled herself enough to be ready for the worst the war had to offer. As much as he still wished to keep her by his side, he was encouraged by Master Yoda to let her choose her own path to fighting. So far, that had brought her back with great results.

So, for now, Kenta conceded. With a heavy heart, he put aside his concerns and placed his trust on Ruby to venture out and liberate Hefrom.

"I've had my own worries about Ruby when it comes to putting herself in mortal danger in the past." told Kenta. He snuck a sneaky grin to tease Ruby, who pouted her cheeks in response. "And yet, she's still here. I may not like it any more than you do, Admiral. But I must trust Ruby on this one." Immediately, the girl's flustered expression changed, smiling warmly at her friend for believing in her.

Right next to him, Pyrrha, too, was all in on allowing Jaune to follow the Jedi Knight into Hefrom. Like Kenta, she was also feeling slightly unnerved of Jaune. Throughout his lone adventures fighting with the resistance without her, she had to admit; she was losing her patience over any word from him. As the crew of her personal ship would joke, she was seen pacing uncomfortably around the Sanctum's Pride like a worrying mother, something they had never seen before, when they would normally see her unbeaten and filled with confidence.

Here, it was no different. Pyrrha felt like she should join him in this escapade, and was bent on keeping him under her watch. But her faith in him was still at an all-time high. Just as Kenta trusted Ruby to be responsible for the mission, she would trust Jaune the same way.

"Jaune has certainly put himself in the same dangers as well." praised Pyrrha, causing Jaune to blush and scratch the back of his head with a flustered chuckle. "But I know he will prevail, just as he had before."

The two younger teens smiled gratefully at their seniors, though the burden upon them was brought back upon their shoulders, knowing that the fate of an entire planet could be in their hands. They vowed to fight on, even if they had to settle each other's differences while in the line of duty.

"Then, can we trust the two of you to resume your mission into Hefrom?" asked Admiral Leeck. With determined grins, Ruby and Jaune turned back to face the admiral; the Jedi pumping a fist to show her determination.

"Count on it, sir." she cheered, fist balled in and punched out.

"We'll get it done." added Jaune, nodding in approval to the Jedi's vow.

With a few more scratches of his chin, Admiral Leeck finally gave in. Letting out another sigh of frustration, he nodded his head, giving everyone the confirmation that he approved of their decision to leave, forced to accept that the two youngsters were already about to get themselves in trouble in another heated mission. The odds may had been overwhelmingly against the Republic, and pitting two children to be the deciding factor to ending the stalemate was the lst thing he wanted to do. Alas, with their somewhat reputable statuses and the backing of their superiors, he supposed there was a chance they could make it out. Not a good chance, but it was still doable.

"Very well. Set forth to Hefrom and bring those enemy communications down. Only then, will I provide you the air support you need." informed the admiral before concluding the discussion. "Dismissed."

The transmission ended, the image of the admiral fading away in a second into static. With the scene all but quiet, the two teenaged combatants regrouped with their senior figures, who proceeded to glance approvingly at them for their courageous contribution to the mission.

Ruby and Jaune were both left to take in the responsibility that was now firmly in their hands. Now that they got approval from the admiral, it was now time to prepare themselves for the big mission ahead. Both of them may have convinced a highly-experienced admiral, but there were even more problems to worry about now. They would hold on to these concerns until later on, when they would be ready to embark on their most dangerous mission yet, where they would be forced to join forces again. They were still unsure if they would fix things up fast enough, but they might as well have tried.

For all of their differences and grudges, they certainly had to forget it all for the sake of the mission. For the freedom of thousands of Brogundi…

After the mission was approved, Ruby and Jaune prepared to set out for their harrowing journey. The two were led to the forward landing zone, where they would take a speeder back to Hefrom under the guise of the mountain pass and safely into uncharted territory.

The young Jedi Knight was adjusting the speeder bike to her specifics. Standing beside the bike with one foot down on the pedal, she checked with the handles, slowly pressing her foot down to get a good feeling on the speeder. Having ridden all kinds of speeders back in the day, it became natural for her to adapt to the new vehicle, a Aratech-made military bike that was standard among Republic scouts.

A hastily packed bundle of supplies was tied tightly behind the seat, pulled in by a set of iron cables for the rough trail ahead. She didn't need much for the trip, so all there was to take were a few rations for herself and Jaune to last a day. A few other essentials, mainly spare parts for Zee and a set of tools for her Crescent Rose, were also taken with her.

Once she checked the bike, Ruby then put her foot down on the ground, standing approvingly of the build of the speeder; just right for two people to take the ride. Not that she'd enjoy it, though… having a bumbling buffoon behind her back didn't just sound uncomfortable and awkward, but also quite irritating, thinking how Jaune would react to a speedy drive down the valley. She could hear the girly screams now, echoing down her ears as if he was really there.

Shaking off those thoughts, Ruby took a good look around the area, taking in the scene before her lone mission.

The landing pad was just the same as it was since the rescue mission. Gunships were still parked in loose but straight lanes, fuel hoses still injected into the rears of their hull, even after being fully charged up for take-off. She could smell the pungent odour of the fuel coming from all over the zone. In her head, she'd joke about how excited those ships would be if they were sentient, just itching to depart and throw all their weapons at the enemy. It was a silly thought; such was the joyful imagination of a young Knight.

Troops were still marching about or engaging in conversations that left Ruby guessing about what they were talking about. She had a faint feeling that they were growing impatient from the lack of orders to move out and return to the fight. Duo most definitely showed it, always cackling about coming back to get back at the droids for payback, and his cheers often got the others chanting with him. She shared that feeling of action, almost a little upset that her squad wasn't allowed to come along for the mission.

Krul and his resistance group were nowhere to be found, presumably resting well at the medical tents where they were being treated after a momentous but failed struggle to retake Hefrom. With burning feelings of passion and patriotism, she understood how eager they were to return to their home city, feeling the pain of leaving their loved ones behind and the anger against the invaders.

All in all, everyone was pretty much restless; hoping for the chance to finally move out and launch their assault. But with the enemy more fortified than before, Ruby knew that they would have to wait until she and Jaune could somehow break the enemy down to minimize the fatality rate.

She took a calm, gentle breath, despite the rainbow of smell that crawled up her nose. If she wasn't so bothered by the smell, she would have eased the worry in her mind. It had been such a long time since her very first mission alone at Iego, the very incident that brought Zee to her life. Just when she thought she could do another solo mission, free from both her Master and any accompanying clone troopers, the war had to keep her at everyone's sights. Now that she was about to embark on another lone task, the feelings of doubt she once had before Iego returned to haunt her. She wondered again if she could pull off another successful mission without costing more lives. The memories of allowing the Separatists to overtake that planet were still etched in her head, filling her with worry that she'd put more loves at risk.

Alas, she chose to ignore it, letting the past go so she could fight for a better future. Ruby would do well to remember the lessons and mistakes she had made from this war. This time, she would do right. This time, no one was going to end up being swallowed by the Separatists again.

Thus, Ruby turned back to her speeder, waiting for her partner to arrive. Tapping her foot and her hands planted at her hips, she veered around for the boy, wondering why he was being so late. She then grabbed hold of the shabby cloak that she had to wear for the mission, scratching the brown tunic, which fabric formed a rather irritating coat of itchiness throughout her skin.

She hated to be away from the signature clothing she wore religiously, especially discerned when she had to take off her beautiful, armorweave hood and cape.

She groaned when Kenta told her to wear the more civilian set of robes and garments, saying that her traditional attire stood out too much. So what if she did look unique? She would be sure that the enemy would remember her the next time they crossed her path!

But then, she realized that was pretty much why she had to temporarily put aside her black and red clothes, forced to wear the rough, itchy tunic that continued to torture her body.

It took Jaune about five minutes later to finally arrive. Moments ago, he was just giving his shield to Pyrrha for safekeeping. He figured if he was going to go undercover again, he would have to, once again, leave behind his prized asset. If only there was a way to fold it like how Ruby made her lightsaber do the same… In addition to leaving his shield behind, he garnered another set of robes to keep himself on a low profile while hiding within the public. Since he had worn the same type of clothes before, he was probably more used to the fabric than Ruby.

When he arrived, he found Ruby impatient pacing around for him. Jaune supposed he would have to be at the receiving end of another rant, so he prepared himself for another round of apologetic pleas. However, when he came into contact, the Jedi didn't seem too angry at him this time. Only a neutral smile and a fairly soft greeting escaped Ruby's lips.

"Hey." she said. "You ready?"

"Y-yeah." responded Jaune, almost caught off guard by the absence of retorting. "Sure."

Ruby nodded before turning around. Instinctively, she would have poked fun at his mannerisms, giggling at how pathetic he looked when he responded to her greeting. However, it was simply not the time to be funny or apathetic. She remembered that Jaune was on the same boat as she was, so the less negativity, the better.

Rather than let themselves be caught in awkward silence, Jaune decided to break the ice and let Ruby know that he was fully by her side. After having the chance to hear from Ruby's former Master, he understood that the young Knight was just as devoted to freeing Brogundi as he was. He didn't want the arguments and the resulting feelings of hostility to get in the way of what truly mattered; victory for the people of the planet and the Republic.

"Okay, Ruby." he began with sincerity, catching Ruby's attention. "I know we've gotten off on the wrong foot. But there are people out there who need our help. And if we're going to make this work, we need to work together and act like a team! So, you lead the way and I'll follow. Deal?"

Ruby took a moment to take in his words. He had proven to be quite the talker back then, and sometimes, during the mission, he would most likely stumble and lose grip on his words. She didn't know if he had to be taken seriously or not, but this time, she did feel a little bit of strength inside of him. She had to think back to Pyrrha and what the commander told her about Jaune, about how much of a warrior he could truly be if given the chance. If what she said was true, then perhaps, this time, Ruby would allow the boy to be more cooperative with her.

Putting her doubts aside, for now, she smiled with more compassion, accepting Jaune's words as true as any other noble cause.

"Deal." she gladly acknowledged, causing Jaune to smile back, though he almost did sigh in relief that Ruby was actually being nice to him for a change.

"So we cool or what?" he sheepishly asked. Ruby's eyes rolled as she jumped onto the speeder. She motioned for Jaune to hop on behind her. The boy took a while to prepare himself to leap on, barely crossing his leg over and seating himself.

A tingling feeling crawled up his spine as Ruby's back was facing him. It definitely felt weird having to sit behind a girl on her bike, as he didn't want to make it feel inappropriate for her. The Jedi did feel that sense of reluctance from him, giving her the creeps as well. Whether it was coming from Jaune's lacking qualities or the mere fact that a boy was sitting behind her, she didn't want to think deeply into it. She just had to prepare for Jaune's hands to grab onto her once the ride began, her ears about ready to withstand the screams.

"We'll see." Ruby finally answered. Revving up the bike, she then put down her foot onto the pedal and started the engine. A single bump caused Jaune to squeal, already giving the Jedi a good start on his upcoming shouting fest. With a triumphant smile, she then pushed her foot down again to accelerate her bike. "Let's go save some people!"

With a deafening cheer and the full force of the bike speeding forward, the two headed off, with Jaune, as predicted, screaming on endlessly…

Checkpoint Rourke,

Hefrom City,

Brogundi,

Trekmor System,

Mid Rim,

Checkpoint Rourke was tightly secured, situated between the city and the vast valley beyond. Two droid bunkers were set up between the starting point of an energy bridge; a long, spacious translucent, hologram-like plane that stretched from two sides of a wide-open crevice, with the ground below being driven at a fatal height. On watch, several battle droids kept the outpost in check, patrolling without stop. Two heavy blaster emplacements were deployed just behind the thin window openings, aiming behind the gate to watch over the perimeter.

Passing through the checkpoint was a convoy of troop transports, each with a rack of folded battle droids tucked in rows within a long frame behind them. When they were about to enter the start of the bridge, each would stop to allow an overhead scanner to search for any suspicious readings, mainly organic materials that might give off stowaways or infiltrators.

Once given the signal, the scanner would then be switched off, allowing a transport to safely go through and enter the city on the other side. The next transport would then follow and the routine would continue.

Amongst the convoy was another droid transport. This one, however, had its back compartment stored with what looked like supplies for the city. Moving between two infantry transports, it cruised in line, waiting to be scanned to drive itself into Hefrom. Unbeknownst to the droids, at least not at the moment, two sneaky teens were hiding within one of the large crates inside of it.

Compressed inside the crate, Ruby and Jaune could barely fit inside. Unfortunately, such a sneaky approach required them to be as discreet as possible. At the behest of Ruby, however, she chose to hide in that large crate by herself. But then, Jaune had to trip down before he could climb aboard the transport with her, and at a frantic rush, she just shoved the boy into the crate and jumped in with him. What they both got, in the end, was a very tight squeeze.

"I wish your butt wasn't pushing my face down." Jaune groaned as Ruby's behind was pressing down on the back of his head, forcing his cheek to be squished at the bottom. Ruby, conversely, was just as distorted, with Jaune's leg repeatedly kicking her own face, almost causing her to rant with a hot temper. There could have been several other ways to sneak into a transport, but this was the worst she ever had to come up with.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she hushed quietly. "This wasn't my idea of a sneak-in either."

And so, the two kept quiet again, forced to be compressed in this tight space for the duration of the trip.

Eventually, after uncomfortable minutes of kicking and complaining, they felt the transport stop before going again at intervals. This gave them the clue that they were already at the checkpoint, about to approach the scanner.

At that moment, Jaune could finally ask how they were going pass through the organic scanner, something that Ruby hadn't told him due to her request for him to be silent during the sneak-in. Apparently, she did mention she had an idea on how to bypass the security measures into Hefrom, but she didn't get to tell it to anyone prior to now.

"So, how are we going to get through the scanners?" he asked, trying to push his face away from the wall, only to be pushed by Ruby's back.

"Don't worry." assured Ruby, retaliating by pushing Jaune again. "Zee's on it."

Jaune had one troubling question he wasn't willing to share with Ruby, held back by the fear of retaliation from the hot-tempered Jedi. When it came to keeping his mouth shut, however, sometimes he just couldn't hold himself from asking anyway.

"I hate to say this, but you really think that old bucket of bolts

And for that, Jaune received another sucker punch, or rather 'butt', to the face. It was no accident; he was sure of that…

"He may be old…" urged Ruby, with a tint of satisfaction that Jaune could pick up. "But Zee's got a few tricks up his scomp link. Besides, I'd trust an old droid more than a Valesian bumpkin."

"Thanks for the compliment…" groaned the boy.

Soon, the transport they were in came to a stop. From outside their rather claustrophobic cover, the two could hear the faint voice of a battle droid, muffled by the walls of the box.

"Halt!" A moment of silence lingered; unease filled their bodies. Anticipation and the fear for the worst mixed together. Ruby felt rushed to act and take out the droids all by herself, should Zee's part in the plan fail to reach before the scanner began to sweep through them. But she held back, understanding that one single slip-up would jeopardize the entire mission. She had to put her faith in the droid above all else, just as she had always done.

"Okay, Zee." she uttered to herself. "Time to work your magic."

Out again, alone. Within enemy territory…

His old legs were already about to give way, broken down and left to rust some more. If only they'd give him the makeover Ruby promised. Alas, they weren't able to return to the Temple for her to help him with that.

Yet, even if he had been upgraded, he'd still have to wonder what he was thinking when he agreed to take the mission Ruby gave him. The old droid wasn't keen on getting himself caught, sent to the scrapheap as a defective droid to the Separatists, but his programming, being the troublesome nuisance as it was, forced him to comply.

Prior to Ruby and Jaune's departure, the former sent Zee on a very important mission of his own. Trusting the droid to travel alone, she tasked him to head on over to the enemy checkpoint and hijack the scanners to allow her and Jaune to be smuggled into the base without being detected. It wasn't the first time he had to be separated from Ruby to help her get to places, but every time made him feel worse than the last.

The fear of dangerous critters and wandering scavengers had slowed the droid to numerous stops at times. Ruby may have assured him that neither would come out to get him, but it hadn't removed him of all fear. The droid was always on edge for the worst possible outcome, constantly chattering to himself on and on.

He wondered why his friend would just thrust all this weight onto him. If he wasn't such a nice old droid, he would have lots of things to say against this dangerous mission. Too bad his programming hadn't given him a choice but to comply.

But, thinking back, he supposed he'd feel obliged to doing his task, at least for the sake of his friend. Wherever she was, she had better not get herself, lest he be forced to waylay his hard-travelled plan in order to rescue her, putting him through another difficult road to find her.

So, while the situation was relatively quiet, Zee continued on, eventually passing through the rugged terrain of the valley to find the crevice where the outpost stood dangerously over the edge. A single archway stood over the ledge, held together by two tube-shaped, mechanical structures with windows lining around the walls in three floors. The topmost floor was built in a cuboid that was slightly larger than the base, following the usual architectural style of most generic military structures.

Zee aimed his optic onto the door at the very bottom of the building, where it was flanked by two guards, who were standing straight and on watch as usual. Seeking his opportunity, he made his move, ready to try at it again with another deceiving entrance.

If his previous sneak-in in the airbase at Marthon had taught him anything, no one seems to give a damn about an astromech strolling around their premises. What may had been even more baffling was how even his own kind would be that ignorant to dismiss him as an innocent droid. They didn't seem to be inquisitive at all about some random droid appearing out of nowhere.

All Zee could hope for now was for the chance that his previous stunt would have gone unrecorded. If all the Separatist army cared about was the clones, then he should be of a minor inconvenience at worst.

Trying his luck, Zee rolled his way to the door, risking his own circuits for the mission. He came up to the two guards, who spotted him as he arrived. One of the droids held out his hand to stop the astromech.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?" asked the droid. Zee responded with his given answer; to tell them that they were to be relocated for cargo delivery. The guards looked at each other inquisitively.

"Cargo delivery? But that's not our job." stated the other droid. Zee then went for the gut puncher. Chirping disappointingly, he then jabbed at them by threatening to report them for insubordination, reminding them that he would find the droid in charge and tell him that there were two defective junkpiles who needed reconditioning. As he expected, they panicked, falling right into his trap.

"Okay! Okay! We'll get it done." exclaimed the first guard.

"Watch the room for us, will 'ya?" requested the other as they moved away from the door, allowing Zee to easily swoop right in and enter the building, right on his way for the control room where he could then manipulate the scanner to allow Ruby and Jaune into the city.

Ruby and Jaune bided their time, resisting the urge to leap out and take action before the scanner would work its way through the cargo. They held themselves in the box and waited, allowing the large overhead device to sweep the transport with its sensor beam. In an agonizingly slow pace, the translucent plane of energy traversed from front to back, detecting for any lifeforms foolish enough to hitch a ride behind the battle droids' backs. Ruby and Jaune held their breaths in, waiting for the beam to finish its work. Whatever happened, they were to make their next move; whether they would pass the scanner or the alarms would be triggered. Hoping for the best, they eagerly prayed for Zee's mission to be a success, or their element of surprise would be lost and things would go from effective to near impossible.

Lives, both Republic and Brogundian, were dependant on this one mission…

Listening closely, Ruby heard the faint sound of the sensor ray coming closer and closer with a low buzz, inching towards her. She kept her breath in, hoping that Zee had hijacked the system. The buzzing sound got closer, approaching right before their very ears; the moment of truth had come. They kept themselves at bay, wondering if they should stay put or spring out.

The buzzing came over their head, passing into their ears before coming out the back. It would only be a second until the results came in, but to the two sneaks, it felt more like hours of waiting for the right moment to pounce.

After the scan was over, the droids outside would make the call to respond. This was it; would they be allowed in or be detected. They waited, ready to fling themselves out and grab their weapons to attack any droid that stood in their way.

"All clear!" Finally, the verdict they were waiting for. They were in the clear, unalarmed to the enemy. Comforted further by the movement of the vehicle resuming its course, Ruby and Jaune had time to breathe easily, letting the nervousness go before they would disembark for the mission.

"For an old droid, he's quite a miracle worker." sighed Jaune, about to pass out from keeping in all of that tension.

"Never underestimate the power of a droid." laughed Ruby, grinning with glee at her friend's success of the mission. Now, all Zee had to do now was to head back to base and inform Kenta that they were in the city. She supposed the droid was going to grumble his way back home through the predator-filled valley, but she knew he was in good hands knowing the way back.

Now that they were past the scanner, Ruby and Jaune were now treading towards the city, safely tucked into their hiding place and away from enemy optics. Once they were past the bridge, it's another easy trip through the city gates and into Hefrom once more.

But they had a feeling this won't be the last time they would be forced into such a tense place. It was only just the beginning…

Jaune didn't want to be reminded of what had happened before. And yet, when he and Ruby jumped out of their hiding place and their feet landing on the city road, he was forced to lay his eyes on the oppressed city again. This time, his disguises weren't going to be a big help against the heightened droid presence that had taken over Hefrom for long.

Ever since they arrived, Ruby and Jaune were already graced by the sight of entire squads of battle droids at every corner. Where Jaune had only seen a few droids at a given square, there was now a whole squad patrolling the same street. Where the chance of seeing one tank is one in a million, he could see one every few minutes. The crowds of people that once roamed the streets under a rather small occupation had been shrunken down, with the city now devoid of its citizens and taken over by the battle droids.

The droid occupation had been boosted up since their last endeavour, and it was plain easy to see why attacking the city was suicidal. Enemies outside and inside would shred any invader to pieces before they could set foot into Hefrom. The enemy's hold on the city seemed unbreakable, with no known weaknesses available.

Except for one…

Jaune took a moment to separate himself from Ruby, peeking from behind a hovel and looking up to view the monumentally towering structure that dwarfed the rest. The comms tower that Pyrrha and Carolina infiltrated before to deliver the message from the Senator who was off-world at the time. The holo-transmission that sent a shockwave of rebellion that spread like wildfire throughout Hefrom that could have kept going, but was immediately shut down in the midst of the revolt.

Jaune felt his heart sink, remembering the resistance being pummelled to the ground before it could ever rise up against the droids. The lives lost in the fight, the struggles they had to face from being chased relentlessly. He did not forget the hardships of fighting that war for attrition, how everyone was being pushed to the limit at every run from the enemy. The feeling of loss still lingered to him as he came back to this very city.

He did feel grateful though, knowing that there were still a handful of resistance fighters that were able to rendezvous back to Krul and retreat off the city. Now, he had to finish the mission in order for his newfound comrades to fight back and retake the city.

"J-Jaune!" Jaune jumped in fright, reeling from a shrill cry from Ruby, who was hiding behind another building. Her cloak hid most of her body with the hood raised to cover her head, making her appear to be nothing more than a shabby beggar in the alleys. "Get over here!" she called again, forcing Jaune to hurriedly creep towards her, keeping his body low to avoid detection.

"I'm coming!" Jaune whispered annoyingly as he approached Ruby. "And can you please not be so loud? It's hard to be sneaky when you're as loud as a ronto."

At the sound of his simile, Ruby's nerve snapped yet again, glaring dangerously at the boy for making such an awful statement.

"Oh, so, you're comparing me to a huge, fat beast?!" argued the insulted girl, resisting the urge to throttle the boy's neck and flail him around. Jaune flinched at her outburst, regretting his own words.

"No! It's just a genuine comparison!" he defended. "Rontos make loud noises; you do the same. It has nothing to do with your body mass or whatever! Can we just focus on the mission?!"

Begrudgingly putting the feud aside, the Jedi Knight refocused her attention to the tower that sprawled over the buildings, wondering if the plan would even work, considering the high presence of the enemy.

"The comms tower should be around the corner." announced Jaune.

"Oh, gee. Way to state the obvious." grumbled Ruby, tired of hearing Jaune constantly report on their approach when their destination stood out as much as the Jedi Temple in the ecumonopolis that was Coruscant. Her ire seemed unnecessary to the boy, who flashed her an equally irritated glare. "What? I can see it from here, you know! You don't have to tell me every few minutes."

"Well, once we get there, we're going to have to act fast." reminded Jaune, brushing aside the argument again. Just as he was about to explain the plan to Ruby, he was quickly interrupted when the Jedi decided to start acting on the operation straight away.

"Good. Then, watch my back." told Ruby, readying her scythe from behind her back.

"Wait, what?" Jaune stuttered with surprise, flabbergasted of how quick Ruby was to jump into the action. He was supposed to have this big idea of how to properly seize the control tower and shut down the communications, with the needed precautions and strategies to finish their objective without raising much conflict.

Ruby, on the other hand, didn't care about the strategic approaches. Even when she planned through a battle or fight, she would just let loose and go all out, not bothered to figure out the quieter path and made sure every bit of her power; lightsaber and all, were put to good use. Besides, she could use some R&R away from Jaune's constant annoyance.

"I'm gonna jump up there and shut down the droids' communications myself." she declared.

"Why?" argued Jaune. "Don't you think I should be the one to go up there?"

"And let you be pounded by a bunch of droids?" Ruby shot back with sass.

"What makes you think I won't be pounded?" exclaimed Jaune. "Just hear me out. Alright?" Naturally, Ruby was tempted to shrug off the boy's plans, feeling that her own way was the right one to go for. Her instincts were telling her to go on right ahead, leaving Jaune behind where he would do well to listen and stay behind.

But the words of Pyrrha rang well in her head. With the vow she made to give Jaune a chance to prove himself, Ruby was forced to swallow her pride again, in order to better their trust for each other. Sooner or later, assuming they'd survive this mission, they would be doing more missions together, and if they stumbled now, they wouldn't survive easily in this war.

Groaning under her breath, Ruby withdrew her stubborn plan to go lone wolf and reluctantly listened in on Jaune's supposedly brilliant one. He coughed, turning around to make sure their spat hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. Once the coast was clear, he then proceeded to whisper his plan to Ruby; the Jedi crouching down to avoid further detection.

"I'm sure you like to hear this, but I am not the most capable soldier." Jaune said humbly.

Understatement of the millennium. Ruby thought in her head, though she resisted the temptation to say it aloud.

"You, on the other hand, are a Jedi. Someone with your power has to be the one to take the blunt of the enemy while I can manage up there. Do I need to explain more on why I need you down here?" After listening to Jaune's idea, Ruby stopped to consider the merit of it all. Finally, after bumbling and stumbling, he has come up with a plan that worked to her advantage. He had taken to account the strengths of her Jedi training, so he put her in a position where she would cover for him and allow him to get work done.

Besides, it also gave her a chance to have some fun for a change. It was a whole day of non-stop drama and struggling in the heat of the moment that she had no time to relax and enjoy something. Thrashing some droids in battle would do her some good to release all of that stress and tension.

"Fine." agreed Ruby, though not as enthusiastic as she wanted it to be. "But don't take too long."

"You got it!" cheered Jaune, happy that a plan was finally coming to motion. "I won't let you down!"

"You better not." warned the Jedi.

Once they were ready, they moved out of the street and raced for the tower, resuming their low profile by staying down low towards their destination. The trip to the tower was expectantly not easy. The deeper they went into the streets, the heavier the level of security within the area was. The concentration of battle droids guarding the area had gotten stronger with each minute they spent getting closer, making the mission even more difficult to hide themselves in their shabby disguises. Eventually, by the time they'd reach the tower's base anyone caught within the area would be sure to be identified as a trespasser and be caught on the spot.

It was too soon to make a stand now; not even Ruby could survive a full-on assault from all corners of the streets. She may have faced similar odds before, but it should never had been a guarantee if she could make it out in any further encounter. They needed a spot where there would be a lot of cover to hide behind and enough room to be flexible with. Ruby would be able to put all of her efforts on defending herself, holding off the droids for as long as she could before she would be forced to pull back.

They settled on the tower's base, running past the heavy droid presence and setting themselves up right behind the fence that separated the building with the road. It took a few careful minutes to have themselves over the fence, sneaking past the droids fast enough to hide. When they were ready, the Jedi and the soldier were both ready to set their plan in motion.

Jaune picked out his ascension cable launcher, making sure the hook was slid inside the barrel of his pistol with the cable untangled for the long shot above. He looked up to view the towering height of the structure, with the very top seemingly touching the clouds. Such a tall distance gave Jaune the chills, his fear of heights screwing up his nerves. His body shook under the pressure, fearing a fatal fall from the top, with his legs almost at the point of trembling.

"Okay." asked Ruby. "Are you ready?"

"Y-yep." responded Jaune with a shaky voice. Ruby then took out her Crescent Rose and opened it up, revealing the raw power and strength of its massive, elegant build. She gave it a spin, ensuring that her hold on it wasn't lost. The blade of light did not extend for fear that it might attract attention, but she was sure that the kyber crystal within had been left untainted.

In awe of the weapon's full form, Jaune blankly stared, eyes glimmering as he looked at the sheer beauty of such a unique iteration of the fabled lightsaber. To think that she was capable of building an unorthodox style of weapon…

He always relished the tales told to him about the legends of the Jedi; how their powers in the Force helped them defeat foes of all kinds. Their laser swords cutting through waves of enemies and decimating entire armies.

Compared to his own combat shield, it paled in comparison to the lightsaber. The family heirloom may had been a symbol of glory and pride for the Arc family, but nothing would rival the majesty of the Jedi's weapon. Ruby's own take on her saber was certainly beyond anything he could imagine.

"One of these days, you gotta show me how to use that." he laughed.

"Ahah… Nope." uttered Ruby, warning the boy that her weapon was off limits to anyone but her. "No one touches my baby but me." Jaune gulped, getting the message instantly.

The pair then stood up, both ready to do their parts. Ruby kept her back against the wall, keeping a close eye for any enemy droids. Jaune, on the other hand, aimed his blaster up in the air. With the pull of the trigger, the cable fired right up, zipping straight into the sky. The hook flew all the way up towards the antenna that Jaune had targeted for it. Once it reached a certain point, the hook began to fall, bringing the cable down with it. As it did, it dropped right onto the antenna. The force of the fall caused the hook to be caught by the cable, forcing it back up to begin wrapping itself around the pole.

After securing the catch, Jaune gave his blaster a good pull, checking if the cable was tightly in place. With a firm grasp, he then began to slowly lift his foot up onto the wall, frightfully moving his body to face the sky. Another gulp came down his throat, fearing the worst from ascending the tower.

"Well. This is it." Jaune yelped before bidding Ruby farewell. "Good luck."

"I don't need luck." scoffed Ruby. Once they were ready, Jaune looked up towards the tower and then proceeded to put a foot onto the wall. When he tried to boost his other foot up to begin the climb, he immediately slipped and tumbled back down, clumsily falling on his backside in a rather humiliating display. Ruby slapped her palm into her own face, annoyed that he was still being incompetent in the middle of a very important mission.

Dusting himself, Jaune groaned before attempting to try again. Tired of seeing him being so pathetic, Ruby wanted to rush the process and asked if he needed a hand.

"Do you need help with that?" she sighed.

"No!" Jaune defied her request. "I can do this." He tried to climb back onto the wall, but was more hesitant, fearing another fall. If he couldn't make it the first second, how in Malachor was he going to make it all the way to the top? No matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he couldn't get back up to start.

Obviously getting more irritated by the false act, Ruby was, for a lack of a kinder word, pissed. There were always those times where she'd lose her temper behind the backs of her Masters and she was certainly not above going soft on this stubborn oaf. At the rate he was going, there was going to be a lot of time about to be wasted.

Jaune was barely able to get both of his feet on the wall. But he was unable to move forward up to the tower's top without pressing the trigger to pull himself up. After a few seconds of struggling, he was about to press it again, only to succumb to fear and stop.

Having had enough of his foolishness, the Jedi walked below the boy before, with the push of her hand, gripped him in a sudden grasp with the Force. Afterwards, she then raised her arm upwards, causing Jaune to be thrown up like a ragdoll. In mid-air, he shrieked as he flailed his limbs wildly during his flight. Holding on tightly to his grappling gun, he then quickly caught his footing and pulled the trigger, hoisting himself towards the antenna that was latched on by the hook. Bracing himself, he then crashed his feet onto the wall, braving the crushing impact of his feet as he then hung on for dear life.

Shivering from the aftermath, Jaune held on tightly to the rope as he dangled madly below the antenna. When he stabilized, he puffed out a sigh of relief. He then looked below to find the mischievous little rat who dared to throw him up there in the first place. With a snarl, he glared dangerously at the Jedi. She was too far for him to see the possible smirk on her face, as she looked like nothing more than a little ant to him. So, he was free to curse aloud, grumbling frustratedly as he regained his footing on the tower.

He released the used the cable, detaching the wire from the barrel of his gun, dropping it purposely on Ruby. The cut cable fell several feet down towards the oblivious Jedi.

"Huh?" Her senses tingled. Ruby looked up to find a thick piece of cable dropping down on her. Squealing in shock, she jumped to the side, letting the cable fall hard onto the sandy ground. She lurched upwards to catch the culprit, instantly recognizing the cable as the discarded piece of Jaune's ascension gun.

"Why that overgrown Kowakian monkey-lizard…" she grumbled. She couldn't see the brat's face from so far down on the ground, looking like nothing more than a Wookie high up on a wroshyr tree. But it didn't matter whether he was enjoying himself or not; her nerve ticked all the same. Once they were done, she was sure to give him a proper 'reward' for his cheeky stunt.

Now that he was in the middle of his journey upwards, Jaune took out a second cable and loaded the hook into the gun before firing it up towards the next antenna. From there, it would be another frightening climb to the top.

Ruby decided to let go of her grudge against the boy to resume her watch for the enemy. She leaned against the wall, patiently standing by for any droid to come her way. She took her time and relax, meditating on her connection to the Force before anything would happen. After having to deal with Jaune throughout the trip, Ruby figured she needed the peace to regain her cool before the blasters began to fire.

Quietly, she focused her energy on soothing her mind, channelling her strength into her hands, for she could then utilize Crescent Rose with the best of her being. The ragged hood over her head protected her face from the scorching sun that floated above the city, the warmth brushing into her cheeks until they grew red. The resulting heat caused sweat pores to form, trying to soothe her irritated skin.

Her thoughts then laid towards the possibility of them succeeding in this mission, wondering if she could prevail despite Jaune's shortcomings. From the way things were, it was a mixed bag. For someone coming from a prestigious family of warriors, he had a lot of features that he was missing from what she envisioned from a prodigy. A clumsy idiot who was better being a circus clown than a soldier on the battlefield. His efforts to fight would rather amuse children than intimidate enemies. His every fall brought only more and more ridicule to the Jedi Knight, prompting her to continue pondering about why was he assigned to her, let alone being the combat partner of another far more experienced warrior.

Alas, Ruby did not wish to act on saving Jaune the trouble by booting him off the team. She had promised Pyrrha that she would allow the boy to prove himself worthy of being a soldier. A few squabbles with him wasn't going to sully her resolve to making this partnership work. At least, she hoped it wouldn't…

So, while Jaune was busy trying to do his job right, Ruby had to worry about her end of the mission. It wasn't determined, but she could feel that trouble could come by at any moment. She was in a well-hidden spot, away from any prying optics from the droids, and no one seemed to bother about checking here for any intruders. A few droids would walk by, causing her hand to twitch on impulse, itching to reach her lightsaber, should they come any closer.

For the next few minutes, Ruby remained quiet, unfathomed by what might come for her. However, she did wish for Jaune to hurry up, so she could finally move. She looked up to find him, and surely enough, there she saw him, still trying to reach the top. At the rate he was going, it was going to take him an hour to reach the control room; never mind what he would do once he got there.

She had to wait. No matter how much she wanted to give another push to 'motivate' him, she had to put her aside her intentions for now. The security was too tight for her to abandon her position. She had to admit that Jaune was right to put her in a position where she could hold off a heavy concentration of troops down on the ground. At least, he could fight decently enough when he puts his thick head to good use. A few security droids shouldn't be a problem, even for a novice. For now, she had to wait, forcing herself to be patient in preparation for any incoming threat that would jeopardize the mission.

After what felt like an eternity climbing up a tower, Jaune finally struggled his way to the very top, grabbing hold onto the walkable platform outside the control room. As he hoisted himself up, he failed to notice the patrolling droid almost a few feet away from him. Hurriedly, he leaned himself against the wall, desperately trying to avoid any more movements.

Luckily, the droid was watching the city below it, unaware of anything happening behind it. Once Jaune reached the wall, he ducked down just below the window, preventing himself from being sighted by anyone within the room. Now that he was in the clear, he needed to find a way to enter the room without alerting the security. He needed to get rid of the sentry that was standing almost inches away from him.

There was no sense kicking it over the edge. The whole city was practically filled to the brim with enemy soldiers. Thus, a falling droid was almost certain to alert everyone to the stunt. He had one droid popper packed in his utility belt; the quietest weapon possible for the job, but he would rather use it for the control room, where he could knock out everyone in there.

Left with no other option left, Jaune had to resort to the old approach; grab the droid from behind and wrestle it down. After all he had been through, being chased and blasted all around by these tinheads, he realized a very obvious flaw in the way they fought. By examining their battle formations, it was clear that the droids were only formidable when they used their massed numbers to combat their enemies. So, on its own, a battle droid would be almost useless. It would still be armed and deadly, but it had very low response times, taking about a second to react before attacking. It may be a small split second, but it was more than enough time to pin it down before a shot was fired.

With that in mind, Jaune needed to exercise his approach with caution. He could throw it down before anyone would notice, but he had to be careful not to take too long to incapacitate the droid before him.

Finally, after taking in a little bit of air, Jaune began his move, sneaking towards the droid while its back was facing him. Closer and closer, he then readied his hands to grab it down and break its head from its thin, feeble neck.

When he was just about at arm's length from the droid, he reached out and prepared to grab it. After a few seconds to mentally ready himself, Jaune lunged forward and proceeded to clutch it by the head.

"What the-?" The droid was unable to catch the intruder on time, pulled into an armlock as Jaune brought it down, just below the line of sight from the window. After pushing the droid down to the floor, he then gave it one strong pull, easily ripping the droid's head from the neck. Wires sprang out of the openings of both ends of the neck with small sparks. Without its head, the droid was deactivated permanently, nothing more than an empty husk of spare parts.

Now that the sentry was eliminated, Jaune was clear to enter into the control room. All he had to do now was toss an EMP grenade into the room and shut off all the droids inside. Viewing his belt, Jaune carefully selected the blue-coloured bomb to throw and not the other thermal detonator clipped next to it. Hoping to avoid that last incident back at Mad'kin Rian months ago, he was not going to let that mistake happen again.

Once he had the popper in his hand, he veered from behind the closed door, only ready to open it when he had the angle to throw it. Right inside, he could count about five droids managing through the consoles, monitoring the overhead screens and tapping into the systems of the city.

Jaune then eyed the centre of the room, readying his arm to sling the popper at that exact spot. One toss at the centre was all he needed to wipe out every droid in the vicinity. The rest of the electronics in there would be left unaffected since these poppers only affected droid systems.

Slowly, Jaune moved his arm slightly to the back, about to toss the bomb into the room. When no one was looking, he swung his arm out and flung the weapon into the room before retreating back behind the wall before anyone had time to catch him.

The silver orb bounced onto the floor, landing right at the centre. The clinking sounds alerted the droids in the room, causing them all to turn around and find out what made that noise. Before they could determine what had happened, the droid popper soon blew up, releasing a rising implosion of blue electrical energy that surged throughout the room, crippling their inner systems and causing their bodies to spas out and tremble to the ground, nothing more than deactivated shells.

The coast was finally clear, allowing Jaune safe access into the control room. After double-checking, he then snuck right in, heading into the now emptied centre of all communications.

The whole room was like a more advanced version of those old cybergame centres back home in Vale. Computers were built all around the room, set up in a circuit in the middle. Overhead, attached to the ceiling, several monitors hung down on both sides of the room, directly above two more consoles that appear to be connected to them. Large glass windows the whole walls there, giving anyone an excellent view of the city, perfect for the operators of this room to keep on the guard for the slightest sign of trouble.

Amidst this complex structure of city monitoring, Jaune had to find that specific computer and system to access the entire communications network for Hefrom. Using the directions provided by Carolina prior to their departure, he scanned the entire room in search for that particular console. Looking at a projected hologram of the computer, he managed to find the one he needed, overlooking the window.

Jaune approached the central computer, directing his attention to the wide screen at the centre of the console. Activating the system as instructed in the field log, he was able to access into the mainframe. With a simple press of a button, the entire network was in his hands. The security system, the electrical system, even the broadcasting schedules; they were all in this very computer.

But to Jaune, all this grand collection was giving him was a headache, unable to recognize a single command available to use. He was no computer whiz; every button available was foreign to him. He had a feeling that if he progressed anywhere, he was going to end up at a dead end.

Luckily, he had his datapad ready to refer to the notes made by Carolina and Pyrrha beforehand. Taking out the small device from his belt, Jaune tapped into the files and opened up the instructions needed to navigate his way into the computer. Scrolling through the descriptions, he slowly referred to the guide to operate the system.

Using the guide, Jaune found it easier to navigate through the system, getting closer to the intended location of the communications hub. Eventually, he managed to get into the interface to manage the comm channels across Hefrom. Now, all he had to do was find the program to override the entire network and shut down connections to all Separatist-controlled areas, allowing the Republic to launch their offensive without suffering major losses.

As he logged into the menu, he was greeted by a prompt that requested the password to be entered in. Again, using the guide, Jaune looked at the password that was listed down, copying it down on the terminal. When he finished, he was prepared to press the confirm button and access the network.

However, when he pressed, instead of a new array of options to explore, another red warning prompt zoomed in, stating that the password was rejected. Jaune's eyes widened in alarm, disbelief running up his mind when he saw the warning label. Frustratingly, Jaune then rapidly pressed the button, attempting to enter the same password on and on. Nothing worked as he fruitlessly spammed the command in.

He smacked himself on the head after a series of button mashing. Intel should have realized that the enemy had changed the password since the last infiltration attempt, ensuring that no one would try again a second time. Now, a clear-cut instruction in Pyrrha's guide had been proven false, and now, he was left without any other option. The mission had hit a deadly roadblock…

It had been ten minutes since Jaune ascended towards the top of the tower. Ruby was still idly standing still. Her fingers tapped onto her arms, her foot tapping on the sandy ground. Her meditation to seek peace and quiet rudely interrupted by her own lack of patience. She had been waiting for Jaune to come down after shutting of droid comms, so she could finally get some work done when the assault force arrived.

"Come on, Jaune." she groaned to herself. "Where are you?"

At any moment, the droids would be coming in to inspect the maintenance area. They would spot her and she'd be forced to deal with an awkward moment before she would be arrested for trespassing. She could not wait any longer before she'd have to face a guard droid. In her mind, she was constantly calling out to Jaune to hurry up or she'd be toast. Part of her even wanted to climb up the tower to avoid any sudden attention. The problem was; Jaune was still right about her defending the base of the tower, in case they'd mass up at the bottom, preventing any safe route out.

Unfortunately, it would have to be a long wait. But even before she had to force a lot more patience, trouble was already brewing by.

"Hey!" Ruby jumped when a high-pitched, electronic voice rang out. From out the entrance, the thing she wished not to encounter the most came by. Two droids came into the premises, putting an end to Ruby's waiting for Jaune.

"Karabast…" she hissed. With her cover blown, Ruby was left with no other choice but to try and stall for time. These battle droids were not the sharpest tools in the shed, so it would be doable to deal with them.

"Freeze!" The droid ordered, pointing its blaster on her. Ruby's skin froze stiff at the sight of the barrel being directed right for her chest, forcing her to stand still and stare, thinking of a way to leave this unfortunate encounter. The other droid next to it took out its communicator to contact the rest of its forces to her location.

"We caught this civilian trespassing this sector." it reported. Ruby stayed motionless, reaching her hand behind to grab her saber to attack the droids before they could open fire. After the droid finished the call, she was about ready to swing her weapon forward and end those two. If she was going to get swarmed, she might as well fight back doing so. "Shoot to stun."

The call was loud and clear. Ruby's hand was almost inches away from clutching the saber underneath her coat, fingers ready to ignite her blade. Just when she was about to strike…

BANG!

"What the-?!"

A sudden blast… Up on the tower…

Glass shattered after a blaster bolt strafed right into the window. Jaune ducked behind the console after a failed attempt to hack into the communications. Panic struck him as he braced himself by the storm of laser bolts striking all around him. The control panel he hid behind was being pelted by the blaster fire that clanged onto the metal panels like hail falling onto the roof of his house. Unlike the hail, though, if Jaune got hit, a laser bolt would leave more than a bruise or a cut. He'd be dead…

The sounds of metallic footsteps tapped into the room. Jaune could tell the droids were already marching right inside to gun him down. Jaune had yet to peek out to see how many droids there were. He didn't need to; there were enough to overpower him. What more could he possibly need to know?

He reached for his blaster and pulled it out. before the droids could come closer, he immediately opened fire. Hindered by the blaster fire aimed at him, Jaune couldn't aim straight, missing a few of his shots. It took him a few misses before he finally hit one of the droids, shutting it down. After his first few seconds of shooting, he then retreated back to his cover, confirming that he had about four droids left.

The odds stills tacked against him, Jaune then made a run for a control console closest to the door outside, shifting right behind it as the blaster fire followed his way still. He struggled to keep his composure while his blaster cooled from the shots he made. The droids inched closer to his position, threatening to trample and execute him where he sat. His blaster finally cooled, Jaune resumed fire immediately.

Stuck amidst the blaster fire, Jaune could not find a way to exit the room and escape. Just when his troubles couldn't get any worse, though, it just did…

While the firefight went on, he then heard something rolling its way towards the room. Like a metallic treadmill, the noise came up louder and louder. The unmistakeable sound of rolling made Jaune's skin shrivel with fear, recognizing them with dread in his mind.

The rolling deathball came up at the door, appearing like a rolled-up insect with its shell built like a tyre. When it stopped, it stretched its limbs out, revealing a pair of double-barrelled blaster cannons at the end of its arms. Three spiked legs stuck out like a tripod as the droid stood. When the droideka was fully deployed, it then popped out a shield bubble around itself. With all of its ferocity, it fired away, launching heavy fire from its cannons with rapid speeds.

Jaune felt the extra weight of the droideka's firepower acting against the control panel. If the battle droids' blasters were hammers hitting his skin, its weapons felt like vibro-punchers! The heavy shots bashed onto the panel behind Jaune like a mob flailing at the doors of an unwanted politicians' door. The sheer force of the droideka's blasters could almost be strong enough to burn through the metal and possibly blow up the panel with only a few more hits. His fright grew exponentially with the odds getting even more overwhelming by the minute.

Unable to shake them off, Jaune prepped another droid popper, grabbing the silver orb in his hand. Activating the device, he then threw the orb towards the droideka. A second after he threw the popper, he soon realized too late that he had forgotten the one important detail about dealing with those droidekas.

He had failed to throw them under the droid…

The droid popper bounced off the shield and tinkered away from the group, landing a foot away before it finally imploded, catching nothing in its area of effect. Jaune was sent into a panicked frenzy, left with no other means of taking out the heavy machine that was firing all cylinders at him.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Eventually, the stress was too much for him to handle and, sooner or later, he'd have to break for it and run. With a wailing scream, he made the run for the door, not bothered to watch for cover and just went straight through the blazing shots. His hands slapped onto his head as he ducked down while he ran, hoping he wouldn't get shot from this stupid act.

Back down on the ground, Ruby was rocked by the sudden blast atop the tower. The droids around her were just as shocked about the sounds of shattering glass and blaster fire coming from the tower, causing everyone to look upwards to see what the heck was going on.

Seeing the laser bolts going off from the tower, Ruby could already tell what happened. In fact, she was sensing the tensity coming from down on the ground, feeling a faint pang of fear and anxiety that could only come from one person. She didn't know how he screwed up, or what he was doing to defuse the situation. She just knew that Jaune had goofed up…

"Dank farrik…"

Scowling with irritation, Ruby then lowered her hood and grabbed her lightsaber. Unfolding it, the weapon's ignited blade then spun around her hand as she sliced off the droids' heads in one swing. As their decapitated bodies fell to the ground, she was then alerted to the sound of alarmed droid chattering coming from outside, confirming that she had been caught red-handed.

In her head, she was already throwing curses at Jaune for messing up the operation. Her silver blade burned brightly into the sand, fizzing fiercely as the inevitable conflict ahead. Ruby did her best to compose herself before the droids came her way, breathing slowly while she watched out for the enemy.

The element of surprise was ruined. There was no need to hide anymore, so she was ready to get herself into a big fight. Her focus was on the entrance, waiting for the eventual horde of droids to march right in and open fire the moment they saw her.

Surely enough, after a few seconds since she slaughtered the droids in front of her, the rest of the cavalry arrived. Marching in formation, a single squad of ten or more droids came right in, blasters pointing out and ready to fire.

She shifted her stand, sliding her right back and moving her weapon so that the blade pointed in the direction of the battle droids. Her mind was attuned, her energy channelled throughout to prepare her defensive form for the onslaught that was coming. Now that she was a Jedi exposed to the enemy, she had no qualms to go all-out and fight to the end.

The blasters then began to fire, spraying towards Ruby with a barrage of deadly firepower. Getting to work, the Jedi stood her ground, deflecting and reflecting each bolt back and forth. Laser blasts rang throughout the street, hitting the walls and, occasionally, the attacking droids. One after the other, the droids began to fall to the ground as Ruby continued to defend herself.

However, when the numbers thinned, more droids arrived to fill in and reinvigorate the enemy attackers. Regardless, Ruby continued to persist the droids, blocking the searing bolts for as long as she could. Despite being able to take out more droids, the clear numerical advantage was starting to wear her strength down. The force of the volley was causing her feet to drag her back ever so slightly. Her balance was waning from fatigue and stress, her mind losing its focus from the enemy fire that constantly bombarded her.

Once she was about to break her defence, Ruby then looked behind her to find the wall of the tower just an inch away. Putting her foot back, she then kicked off and flipped forward, launching herself into the air and over the laser storm. Above the droids, she then threw her weapon like a cyber-frisby down upon them, causing the saber to spin wildly towards the droids and slicing them all down in a single swipe. The weapon then came spinning back to her hand, being caught by the Jedi before she landed onto the ground.

However, Ruby heard the sounds of marching again, coming closer towards her location. She got ready to face another squad of battle droids coming her way, if only she wasn't distracted by another random irritancy.

Another wailing scream filled the air above her. Looking up, Ruby spotted the flailing figure of Jaune diving to his doom! The boy free-fell down to the ground, his figure almost ready to fall to the ground like a pancake, flat on the ground. Alerted to the distance between him and the ground, Ruby had to break away from her guard to save the boy.

Unfortunately, Jaune was falling so far apart, that she had to leave the close proximity of the tower and out into the streets, back into the public view of the enemy occupation. But she didn't care; at this point, she might as well throw the element of surprise away if it meant making sure that the idiot wasn't brought back in pieces.

Running into the middle of the street, she kept her eyes at the falling Jaune at all times, ignoring both the myriad of battle droids patrolling the area and the resulting danger she was about to put herself in. Once he was at the right height, Ruby then reached her hands out towards an awning, releasing the large piece of cloth from the wooden posts and throwing it up towards him.

Like a fishing net towards the sea, the blue cloth then flung into the air, spreading out to envelop Jaune like a Naboo faynaa fish, snaring him. The force of the catch slowed his descent enough to have him drop at a closer distance to where Ruby could snatch him up. The snared boy then fell down a steeper way down, just enough for the Jedi to zip her way towards him. She spun around and dashed like a lightning bolt, leaving her trail of roses behind.

Zooming through the street, she then jumped up before Jaune could hit the ground, grabbing him in her arms. With the boy safely in her grasps, Ruby landed back down, feet stomping hard as she dragged forward to a screeching halt.

When she landed, she was suddenly rocked by Jaune as he squirming roughly within the cloth. Triggered by the flailing of his body, Ruby was forced to throw him down, Jaune crashing his bottom onto the ground.

Fighting his way out of the sheet, Jaune then took a moment to breathe heavily, trying to compose himself making such a drastic fall. But he would lose that chance when blaster fire began erupting all around him. In a haste, he was quickly pulled away by Ruby, the Jedi grabbing his robes before she sped off, dragging Jaune as she ran. In an instant, the streets of Hefrom were rocked by the collective sounds of battle droids sounding their alerted calls throughout, answering to the presence of the intruders with blaster fire.

Pulling the boy behind her wasn't really the best option to go for. Then again; Ruby had been in more stupid situations than this. It hardly surprised her that she'd be the centre of the worst kind of shenanigans. However, she wasn't expecting to be getting herself out of trouble while dragging someone's weight around. It was almost always her who had to be pulled out of danger by her Master; now it was her turn to feel the burden of pulling someone else away.

Harder and harder, she continued to make her retreat into the deeper parts of the streets, hoisting a helpless Jaune as he wailed in panic over the blaster bolts surging all around them. Ruby resisted the urge to curse aloud. With Jaune being deadweight, she could not rely on her speed to get away from the droids. As such, she had to pull her lightsaber out, defending herself while she ran.

After a while, with enough effort and luck, the two had run into the alleys, hoping to find somewhere to hide from the pursuing droids. But even if they managed to lose them, Ruby and Jaune had to face the gruelling reality that their botched attempt at seizing the control tower had culminated in the rising alerts that rang across the city.

Now, their element of surprise was gone. No more would they be able to sneak their way so easily. The enemy was about to keep their optics open at all times now that there was a Jedi and a conspirator on the loose…

Their run into the alleys of Hefrom had put them into a tiring halt as Ruby finally let go of Jaune after what was a burdening rescue of her partner. Resting their bodies against the walls of a row of houses, they kept their senses up, watching out for any more pursuing droids. Their bodies were at a state of unrest, adrenaline pumping constantly by the roaring sounds of security alarms echoing into the air.

Their failed takeover of the control tower had completely cut their odds on winning Hefrom for the Republic went from barely possible to practically impossible. A Jedi, who was not even into her first year of knighthood, and an academy washout against an entire city-wide garrison of droids seemed like a hopeless situation.

Tired and frustrated, Ruby was starting to lose her patience with Jaune. After botching a simple plan, he had let them become engulfed in a hundred-to-one struggle. Scowling at him, she was about to let him have it. What was it that Jaune asked her earlier? What made her think that he couldn't possibly make a mess of things? Seeing how the situation went down, the answer was as clear as the stains on a rotten jogan fruit.

"I thought you had it under control!" growled Ruby. "Thanks to you, we've got two hundred battle droids looking for us!"

"Hey! I'm sorry!" argued Jaune, offended by how the Jedi was being inconsiderate about his sudden misfortune with the security. "I didn't think they had a rolling death ball up there!" Holding her head, Ruby was trying not to rant any more. One more spat could easily alert the droids to their whereabouts. With the entire city on alert, every path they take was a risky one. They had to remember that they vowed to work together for the sake of the mission and they were not going to lose it all because of another petty argument. The stakes were too high to stall for a pointless debate.

Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, letting her body loosen up from the stress. She had to carry on with another plan. While they were vastly outnumbered, she and Jaune weren't entirely defenceless. If he couldn't fight well on his own, at least he could be more competent with her to back him up.

"Okay. Then we do it the other way." groaned Ruby. "We'll fight our way there and we'll both go up the tower."

"Sounds good." agreed Jaune, relief blown out from his mouth. He wasn't going to argue having a helping hand in his problems, especially when said problems would be his last. With a little bit of strategy and a Jedi's powers by his side, he could have a better chance at proving to Ruby that he was no waste of space.

"And this time; you go all the way up. Rolling death ball or not!" scolded Ruby, pointing her finger at him as if she was threatening him with her saber. Startled, Jaune then huffed in slight irritation. Never he would have thought that being bossed around by a girl younger than him would get on his nerves than being in fear. Being in a world where every girl you've met was either uninterested or intimidating, he had finally found one, who wasn't any of his sisters, that he could get annoyed with.

"Fine…"

Eventually, after a careful run from the streets, Ruby and Jaune managed to find their way safely on top of a building opposite the control tower. Returning to the scene of the crime, they had already predicted that the droids had reinforced the area with more droids and, thus, more firepower.

Based on what they remembered from their first attempt, security at the entrance of the tower had now been doubled, with more squads of droids covering up more ground as they marched around or stayed on guard. To make manners worse, a tank was parked at the right side of the courtyard, with a single droid officer surveying the area with a pair of electrobinoculars glued to its optics.

There were now too many droids for Ruby and Jaune to use stealth and sneaking to their advantage. Regardless of the amounted danger, they still had their sights on the control tower. The lives of countless Republic and resistance soldiers, as well as a good portion of the war in this side of the galaxy, depended on seizing this one tower. This was the central point that could determine the fate of the Brogundi campaign.

"When they want backup, they really deliver." whispered Jaune.

"Oh well. No use crying over it." sighed Ruby, grabbing her folded saber-scythe. She kept it in its closed form, caressing it as if she was holding a rifle. With no other option than to tackle the whole platoon with force, she needed to be ready to jump into the action. Good thing she had been in situations like this; when stealth failed her, Ruby didn't need to go for the quiet options.

However, what really swam in her mind was the frustration she felt; the fact that she hadn't gotten to finish things earlier. Had Jaune not messed up, this mission would have been over by now.

People would have been saved much sooner, free from the mechanical grip of the droid army. Just how could all of this end up being delayed by someone's idiocy had fled her mind.

"We'll just work our magic." Jaune said with a shrug of his shoulders. At this point, there was very little time for strategic evaluations. Hefrom was already going through enough trouble as it was. Failed resistance strikes, blockaded roads, constant droid patrols and more; there was too much at stake to sit down and come up with some bold plan to approach their most critical target.

"I'll keep the droids busy. You take the tank." suggested Ruby, sharing the sentiment for quick action. "Simple enough?" Unfortunately, Jaune didn't seem to be a fan of her strategy. Who wouldn't think going after a heavily armoured tank with nothing more than a mere pistol and almost half the ammunition left in his pockets be a terrible idea? He might have had a few explosives left, but knowing how unlucky he was with throwing detonators at large droids, he had little hope that he could pull it off.

"Oh, sure. 'Cos nothing's simpler than fighting a giant armoured hunk of metal with a long cannon aiming at your face." he replied sarcastically.

"You want to be the one at the tail end of that barrel?" groaned Ruby. Jaune gulped, realizing that Ruby had a good point. A very good point. Being the one to take out the droids would leave him at a huge risk of being blown up to smithereens. By having him deal with the tank, at least she would be capable of fighting both the droids and taking a few shots of the cannon.

"Fine." he quickly agreed. The plan was now completed as it was; not effective on the grand scheme of things, but solid enough in theory. It's better to have some kind of plan than have none at all.

Ruby's grip on her saber tightened, body rising slightly to prepare for the jump to the action. Following along, Jaune had his blaster held strongly in his hand. He checked his explosives at his belt; two thermal detonators and a droid popper. He looked at the tank parked at the right side of the entrance, then noticing the majority of the droids crowded at the left side. Assessing the possible outcomes, he began to understand Ruby's strategy more; by focusing her attention to the droids, she'd be giving space for him to approach the tank and drop an easy popper into the vehicle, knocking out the occupants inside.

Before he could move along with Ruby, he heard a swooshing sound; his head veering to the left to find that the Jedi had already leapt into the air, heading towards the tower.

Ruby touched down onto the ground, presenting herself right in front of the masses of droids. At the sound of her feet crashing onto the sandy road, the entire droid force turned towards her direction, catching the Jedi right in their sights. Her head was raised to find the enemy watching her with caution, unable to call out their next order in time. Every second the droids wasted calculating their course of action, it gave her more time to use every little moment to breathe in and out, soothe her body and refine her senses. Her focus honed on all the individual battle droids before shifting towards the tank, assessing the viable positions to be in when the tank would focus its attention onto her.

"Look! Jedi!" sounded the lead droid. "Blast her!" As the voice was heard, Ruby gripped her lightsaber, extending the light of her silver blade at one end, the curved metal blade folding out at the other. Spinning her weapon above her head like a Nautilan fire dancer, she then finished up by gripping it with both of her hands, pointing the light blade towards the droids.

Her feet then sprang up, pushing the Jedi to make the first move. The force of battle droids then let loose a barrage of blaster fire, raging towards the Jedi. As she darted forward, Ruby swung and spun her saber, letting both blades block the lasers while shifted from side-to-side to break their aim. Once close enough, she jumped into the group and started shredding through the droids, eviscerating them into pieces. Attacked from within, the formation began to fire confusedly, trading fire all over while Ruby danced through the crowd, slashing down droid after droid.

While her assault went on, the tank swivelled its cannon round and around, trying to get a lock on the speedy Jedi. Ruby had been slicing through the droids for a good while without being blasted apart by the cannon, suggesting that the crew of the vehicle was unable to shoot when their own forces were around.

While she was protecting herself, a sense of regret spiked within. A strike of irony coursed through her heart when she stabbed a droid through its chest. The apparent hesitation from the droid tank was felt, leaving her to think that these droids may have had some understanding of how important their manpower was, like they had bonds with each other.

Unfortunately, she had to put those thoughts aside. They were still programmed to fight for an enemy that was, as a whole, selfish and ignorant. Relentless in their pursuit for power that they would send these droids to prosecute and subdue worlds to their will. There was no time to spare battle droids to 'rethink' their options; they had to be dealt with so that the many more sentient beings could be free. A small price to pay, unfortunately. If Zee knew what she chose to do, he'd be upset about it; that was for certain.

From above the rooftop, Jaune had taken his time to watch Ruby deal with the droids. Alarmed that she had taken action so suddenly, he then quickly jumped off the roof and proceeded to run towards the tank while its focus was on the Jedi.

He sprinted towards the vehicle, not stopping to help Ruby. In front of the tank, he quickly stepped to the side to avoid being seen by the pilot. As he came up to the vehicle, he then stepped on the half-moon-shaped base of the tank before climbing up the left side cannon and then reaching the top of the upside turret.

Jaune reached the hatch, ready to throw in a droid popper and shut the vehicle down. Suddenly, when his eyes laid the two door panels that were closed tightly, a sudden rush of panic struck him. This was where he began to realize a big flaw in the strategy.

The doors were surely sealed shut and his hands were obviously not going to be any good in budging through them. He needed a sharper set of tools to open the doors. It was then that he glimpsed at Ruby, watching the Jedi cut through the droids with her lightsaber like slashing weeds with a vibro-machete. Such a burning weapon could easily cut through the doors and allow Jaune to open them up.

With his part of the plan now completely screwed, Jaune wanted to shout to Ruby to get her attention and help him.

Just as he was about to raise his voice, he felt a sudden force throwing from beneath him, swinging him to the side. Like a terrible ride at an amusement park, he was being spun back and forth, forcing him to hold on for dear life, grabbing the turret so hard that his fingernails felt like they could claw their way into the metal.

The turret began to rotate round and around, trying to shake Jaune off after, apparently, the crew caught him running up on them. Unable to keep himself steady, the boy ended up screaming as the turret tried to flail him out.

"WHHOOAA!" Gripping hardly onto as much of the turret's hull as possible, Jaune struggled to stay put, swung left and right like a ragdoll.

The screams caught Ruby's ears, forcing her to stop and watch Jaune being tossed around. Groaning, she was about to yell at him to get his head back in the game, not believing that he could have such a problem trying to hold on to the tank.

But then, she also began to realize the same problem he had. Seeing that she had already dealt with enough of the droids, she then quickly went to the tank to save Jaune's behind. She made a few quick jumps, hopping up the other side of the tank and landing herself on the rotating centre of the turret.

She bent her body down and crouched, holding the side of the door panels with her right hand, keeping her saber tightly on the other. Spreading her legs out, she kept herself on a stable position, trying her best not to let the dizziness get to her. The arm that had the saber in her hand was ready to lunge into the doors, only held back before she told Jaune to free himself.

"Let go!" told Ruby strictly.

"I'd like to, but I'd probably be safer hanging on!" urged Jaune, stubbornly hugging the barrel of the gun, refusing to let go for fear of falling down hard. His hesitance was not appreciated by Ruby, seeing it as another display of childish attitude.

"Just get off!" Ruby roared, pushing her palm out to force Jaune off the tank. The boy felt the push coming and was thrown off the barrel, landing painfully onto the sandy ground. As he reeled, Ruby then reached out and snatched a pulse grenade from his belt.

With Jaune out of the way, Ruby then proceeded to slice through the metal panels, cutting between the two and forcing the doors open. With a single pull of her hand, she threw the tank commander out of the vehicle before tossing the popper inside. She jumped away from the tank, seconds before the device went off inside and sent a shockwave throughout the vehicle. Within a second, its repulsorlift system had been shut down as it no longer floated and landed onto the sand.

With the tank now deactivated, the pair then set their sights on the remaining droids, but before they could finish them off, another squad of droids began to march into the courtyard, walking in a steady formation with their blasters locked onto the pair.

"More of them!" shouted Jaune.

"Get the doors open!" ordered Ruby. At her word, Jaune ran to the tower's entrance, hiding against the right side of the doors and worked on the panel. Defending the front, the Jedi then stood her ground to brave the storm of laser fire that came her way.

The bolts flew right for her from all angles, trapping Ruby in a deadly net of blaster fire. The number of droids entering the area was too much for her to handle, unable to keep her defence up for long. Thus, she pulled in a few boxes and barrels to provide her more cover to shield behind. She blocked off a few hits with her saber before retreating behind to catch her breath. When she was ready, she would use her power to push away a few boxes towards the droids, flinging and smashing the enemy with each throw.

Meanwhile, Jaune continued to tinker with the control panel, trying to get the doors to open. There were only three buttons to go through; one of them should open the door.

"Okay, I think I got it. I got it."

Unfortunately, amidst the panic, he was frantically trying to find out which one of them was that open button. A little blaster had run through Ruby's defence, hitting near Jaune and causing him to flinch with each shot. The more the blasts came, the more panicked he became.

After a few shots, Jaune quickly pressed one of the buttons, desperately hoping that he pressed the right one. Unfortunately, what happened instead was another pair of metal blast doors closing in front of the previous ones. The entrance was now sealed shut and Jaune was left flabbergasted over his poor choice. As if his luck couldn't get any worse…

Ruby was trying to keep up the pressure, spinning her saber and throwing as many objects at the droids as possible. However, she was using so much of her energy that she was starting to lose her footing. Sweat was dripping down her face, her head swelling with a minor headache. She had been exhuming more and more of her strength with each passing minute, forcing her to catch her breath. But she couldn't afford to take breaks. Every time she stalled, the droids would get closer and closer.

Her sights went to Jaune, watching the boy struggle to open the doors while unaware that he had closed the blast doors.

"Jaune! What's taking you so long?!" Ruby shouted crossly.

"Uh… wrong button?" said Jaune with a stutter. It didn't take Ruby long to figure out what he did, frustrating her.

"Dank farrik…" she cursed silently. Before she could run to take over the slicing, she felt a sharp feeling spiking her head, sensing bigger trouble just around the corner. From the entrance, the two then spotted another disaster coming their way.

"Another tank!" The large vehicle came floating by, entering the courtyard with its turret already homing in on them both. With no time to take action, Ruby ran for Jaune and grabbed him away before the tank fired its explosive round onto the door.

Pulled out of the way, just in time before the explosion rocked the entrance, the pair rolled out of the danger zone, forced to exit the courtyard as the heavy armour approached the scene. The tank, along with the arrival of more battle droids, refilled the tower to what it was before; a fully secured roadblock between Ruby and Jaune and the objective. With their plan foiled and their trajectory shattered, the boy found himself unable to push forward. Pressed with the mounting enemy numbers, there was only so much two lone warriors could do to face a force that was going to overwhelm them. No way even the power of a Jedi Knight could match such odds.

"Ruby, we have to fall back." told Jaune.

"No way!" argued Ruby. "I'm not leaving until that tower is secured!"

"You want us to get blown up?!" shouted Jaune, wanting to pull Ruby away from the fight himself, but was sure as hell that he wouldn't be able to get her one inch away from her spot. "How can we face them all like this?!"

Before the argument could heat up, Ruby's body twitched in panic when she sensed the danger coming. The tank began to take aim at them and fired its cannon at them again. As if in slow-motion, Jaune stared at the incoming orb of death flashing closer and closer towards him, too stunned to move away.

"Move!" It took Ruby no time to pry Jaune off his tranced state by jumping onto him, pushing him off with the strength of two banthas. She threw herself at him so strongly that they managed to roll metres away from the blast before the shot blew up behind them.

In a rush, the two made their way over the wall, Ruby pushing Jaune over with her Force push that sent him hurling up into the air. Vaulting over for herself, Ruby then grabbed Jaune again, dragging him into the streets while battle droids once again pursue them.

Another attempt of seizing victory at Hefrom City had failed…

Tired, battered, hindered…

But above all else…

Defeated.

Once again, Ruby and Jaune found themselves lost within another alleyway, keeping themselves hidden within an opening between two corners of a wall. The droids that chased them seemed to have halted their pursuit of them, given that it was minutes since they were chased away from the tower. Overcome with fatigue and panic from the chase, the pair was unable to find their footing to move out and try their approach again. All they could do was sit back and rest, using what little time they had to conserve their energy. Unfortunately, that meant stalling and wasting more time for the mission.

And that was what infuriated Ruby. Unable to hold in her frustration towards Jaune, she decided to let him have it.

"When will you stop being such a dunderhead and get your brain to work?!" she exclaimed to the sitting boy. "The whole operation is depending on us to win this battle for them and we can't afford to stall because you can't man up!" However, to her surprise, Jaune didn't shriek like the cowardly buffoon he was. Instead, he got back up in an instant before glaring back at Ruby.

"Hey, I tried, alright?!" he argued back. "But so far, I don't think your plan's working out!"

"And I tried to give you that chance!" groaned Ruby. "Pyrrha told me that you had what it takes!"

"That does it!" Frustration mounting, Jaune stomped away from the Jedi, unable to look at her straight in the face before he fumed with all his being. Finally, someone forced him into the breaking point. "I've been busting my ass up to prove to you and your Master that I can be a great partner for you! But I can't do that when you're always trying to stop me from trying!"

All day, he had been pushed against his will by this Jedi, who was supposed to be someone he could respect to the highest degree. This was supposed to be the people his family worshipped for generations, and all he got was a whiny, bossy little kid who couldn't give him the time and day to make use of his skills as a soldier.

It absolutely shattered his expectations of what a Jedi Knight was supposed to be. A venerable warrior who used his or her power to bring peace and balance to the galaxy. All he ended up with is an overbearing brat who was more than eager to push him around like a subordinate.

Just like everyone who had mentored him…

As he loosened himself, Jaune sat back down on the ground with his head hanging down. His spirits broken by doubt and anger, filled with vigour over himself for screwing up again.

Facing the full brunt of Jaune's outburst, for a long while, Ruby stood, stunned and shaken by what was said to her. Her steadfast persona had been broken by the sudden realization of her stubbornness.

For a long time, she had never received a greater shouting from anyone other than her own Master, and he wasn't the strictest member of the Order. Jaune's anger struck as hard as a supernova exploding through the cosmos, like a wave washing her away. Suddenly, the fiery girl she was known for was gone, consumed by a stricken soul that has made the biggest mistake of its life.

Watching Jaune fall to the ground, her heart was immediately overcome with regret. She promised that she would let him prove himself to be a better soldier; something that Pyrrha insisted she'd do. Unfortunately, her heart was set on finishing the mission, wanting to save lives as fast as they could. Such a priority on her own personal feelings have once again clouded her judgement.

Feeling terrible about herself, Ruby kicked the dirt beneath her feet, cursing at herself for being an inconsiderate fool. Left with no other choice, she had to apologize to Jaune for making him feel so lost.

"I-I'm sorry, Jaune." said Ruby sadly. "I got a little carried away."

"A little?" groaned Jaune.

"Alright. I was definitely carried away. I guess I was just impatient of seeing you failing that I just couldn't help myself." Her feet slid back and forth as she fiddled with her fingers, looking more like a little girl in trouble with her parents.

"How can I ever hope to win this war for everyone if a Jedi can't give me the chance to even fight?" moped Jaune, yet to shake himself from his anger. Again, Ruby was unable to speak her mind, too caught in her regrets to properly say something.

"You're right." She managed to choke out a response. Overcome with guilt, she felt she truly screwed up, unable to humble herself to make Jaune a decent fighter. Why couldn't she just be a good person and help? That was the one thing she knew Jedi were supposed to be good at.

Turns out, it didn't seem that way when it came to her…

"Maybe I'm being a terrible Jedi, huh?" she said, defeated even more. There were times like this where her stubbornness and arrogance would get the best of her. "I'm sorry, Jaune. I just…"

Before she could speak, Jaune talked again, still looking away from the Jedi.

"I get it. You want to liberate the city as fast as you can." he urged. "Don't you think I want the same thing?"

The two remained where they were, with Ruby now sitting next to the downed soldier, unable to say anything to him. Feeling like she made the biggest mistake in her life, her heart ached with the guilt and hesitance to muster her courage back. She was not sure what to say after the way she had been treating Jaune all day.

Finally, after a moment of no action, Ruby tried to break the silence, willing to give it a shot to explain her behaviour. There was no point hiding it all. Ruby had to swallow her pride and tell him why she had to get things done the way she wanted. If she remembered something from her time in the Order, having wants can be a dangerous thing.

"You know my astromech, Zee, right?" she said, as she kicked a stone beneath her foot. Jaune nodded, remembering the droid who followed Ruby everywhere at base; the same droid which let them into Hefrom. Despite how stressed he was, Jaune supposed he'd let Ruby explain herself about the astromech she named Zee. Sensing the guilt in her voice, he mustered up enough patience to give her the chance to speak.

"I found him on the planet Iego." told Ruby, letting the memories of her very first mission as a Jedi Knight seep back into her head. "He was a high value target for the Separatists for information that they wanted to use to gain an advantage over the Republic."

"I was sent to find him and managed to rescue him." continued Ruby, feeling the cool atmosphere of the dim Iego evening as if she was actually there again. She remembered how far and wide she searched, how many people she had to talk to get the information she needed before finally stumbling upon the scared little droid behind the blabbering buffoon that was his original owner.

Jaune couldn't tell what she found in that old astromech that made her so attached to it, to the point that she even referred to it as a 'he'. It was like a pet that constantly followed its owner around. From what he heard from his family, the Jedi were not always so beholden to earthly possessions, and seeing Ruby with an astromech she seemed to care about puzzled him.

"But that came at a cost…" Her tone changed, getting to the tragic part of the story.

"When I was forced to escape the planet, I had to watch as several battle droids begin to rage through the city, capturing and arresting civilians and herding them all into positions of defencelessness. They sent frigates to blockade the entire planet. All of that; for just one piece of information…"

The horrid looks on the people's faces, the sight of heavily-armed war vessels invading a lone planet, the possible repercussions the populace would have to suffer from a droid occupation; she could remember it all. Her own actions, the choices she made during that mission, she couldn't help but feel like she should have done better to avoid the things she had seen.

"And it didn't stop there. I have seen what selfish crooks like them are willing to do. The lengths they will go to get the things they want. They blockade entire worlds, conquering and subjugate populations to make them bend to their will."

Ruby soon opened up about her experiences before the war, when she was dealing with other shady folks in the Outer Rim with her Master. The realms of worlds unreachable for Republic law opened her eyes to how cruel the galaxy was, peace times or not. All the same, people were getting hurt, enslaved, killed…

"I have seen innocent people being pointed at by blasters, being unable to do anything to fight back. Entire families being herded up and carolled into places where we may never see them again." She stopped for a moment. Her mind began to swim towards those who she saved or tried to save, remembering their plights. Being enslaved, having their homes destroyed by raiders, families lost to disasters that could have been prevented.

"I couldn't stand to see them look so afraid. The fear in their eyes. Everything they had to go through… It's just… horrible…" Her voice was strained by disgust and sympathy, her body shaking from the memories. For every different victim or person in distress she laid her eyes upon, they all had the same eyes, the same fear that emanated from those eyes. So much suffering in the galaxy made Ruby's blood boil, so hot that not even the meditations and lessons she learned in the Jedi Temple could discourage her into suppressing her deepest anger.

But feeling the despair was only scratching the surface…

"I've even seen good men and women die at the hands of people like them. Soldiers and innocents alike." Her fist crashed to the ground in a rare display of 'Jedi anger', as Jaune put it. Her vivid recollection of those who perished raged in her head, the feeling of loss and the regret mixed within. "I have been around the galaxy long enough to know just how cruel and pathetic these kinds of people can be."

"As Jedi, we have the power and the will to bring peace to the galaxy. And yet… we must learn to exercise restraint and that has left us unable to save everyone." It always baffled her as to why her Masters would be so calm in the face of such agony in the galaxy, which made her frustration burn more powerfully. She didn't want to think that they were only making excuses for being so incapable of saving everyone; far be it for her to talk smack about them. But that was what she felt like what was happening. Excuses…

"It frustrates me, Jaune!" she urged, letting her voice strain with anger. If her Master caught her displaying such a fit in front of him, he'd set her straight. But he wasn't there, and even if she was trained to hold it in by herself, there was only so much the adolescent girl could take. "Every time I see a people suffer at the hands of those we swore to defeat, I feel more and more helpless!"

"That's right. Helpless…" Just like what happened with Yang…

"That's when I thought… Through this war, I can finally have the chance to do something. Now that I'm a knight, I can have the freedom and the space to make decisions for myself. I can finally do something to save lives. To help free people of being oppressed by these threats to the galaxy."

For a moment after listening to Ruby vent her frustration, Jaune slowly understood how far her resolve to save others had gone. A lifetime of hunting criminals and other darkly elements in the galaxy could do so much for a child her age. All his life; he wanted to do the things she and other Jedi would, like how his ancestors fought wars in the centuries prior, and being the hero his family always valued.

He always thought Ruby had it good with her life as a Jedi, always out saving the galaxy when the Republic was powerless to stop threats from outside its borders, all while he was busy flunking in the academy. The reality, unfortunately, was far more twisted than he originally thought.

Finally, he began to feel a lot more understanding towards the Jedi for her rushed behaviour. She just wanted what was best for the people of the worlds they were tasked to defend. Her sadness was heartfelt just by watching her expression as she explained her story. That should have been obvious from the get go, but with her flaring attitude, it was hard to work with her on her goals if she was going to be this bossy.

Now, the demanding attitude was no more, replaced by one of genuine sorrow and empathy. A girl who wanted nothing more than to see a galaxy happy and free from all the troubles of the systems working against it.

"I want to help these people, Jaune, because I don't want them to feel lost in times of war. The galaxy never asked for this, and I, as a Jedi Knight, should be the one to carry the torch to save it." Ruby softened her voice. Her heart was pounding with a heavy burden acting on her shoulders. The Jedi Order was not the largest force to save everyone, so the weight upon every member was astronomically huge.

So, perhaps, because she was being burdened with such a heavy task, she would need something or someone to help lift said burden.

"But… I have to remember something." she spoke quietly, realizing something important. One of those who could help her with her quest was sitting right next to her. "Saving people. Freeing the galaxy of darkness. I can't be the only one doing all of that.

"There's the Jedi Order. The Republic. We have clone troopers all ready to serve that exact same goal, and I have served with them! Everyone has a reason to fight back and help others, no matter how spoiled things are."

Yes, everyone was part of the team; everyone had the right to help the galaxy in their own way. Yet, when it came to a chosen soldier to help Pyrrha Nikos, she couldn't let that happen. There was a chance that Jaune could be the soldier she needed to help her win the battle. But she just couldn't accept the flaws he had, and for that, she had spoilt her judgement.

Pyrrha chose him. How could that be a mistake when she knew how much the Mistralian achieved in her time as a special forces unit? If Ruby was going to make Jaune the butt end of a joke, then what would that make Pyrrha; a woman who had forged her name in the halls of Remnant's finest, decorating her home system with glorious victories under her name? Insulting what she had tried to make would be a disservice.

"And yet… I couldn't give that chance to a guy who had good enough a reason to fight this war." Her head sank closer to her knees, burying her stricken face onto her legs. All she wanted was to win the battle and free those subjugated by the Separatists, but in the end, she allowed her own misjudgement to not only damage Jaune's potential, but also prolong the enemy's presence. For that, people would have to suffer and it was practically her fault.

"I was being selfish. I am so eager to help the city and this planet's people, that I wanted to do things right. But I let my feelings coax me into denying your help." she continued to mope as she hid her face. Yes, mope. Because that was what she was feeling like doing. It definitely hurt her that she had scorned the battle at hand because of her own ignorance. "Because of me, we butchered the operation."

And so, Ruby remained silent. Again, she had let herself become blind to the thoughts of the others around her.

She hated that someone had to see her so ridden with guilt. Usually, she'd go hide somewhere where no one, especially her Master, wouldn't be able to see her. Besides, there wasn't anywhere safe she could hide in anyway…

"I'm really sorry for being such a jerk to you." she silently said before turning to Jaune. She placed a warm hand on his shoulder, revealing a small glimmer in her silver eyes. "You're a good guy. I know your heart is in the right place. And I was so stupid into thinking you're nothing but an academy washout. Maybe I'm the one being the idiot…"

Watching Ruby finally admit her wrongs made Jaune open up a bit. Here was a Jedi scorned by the suffering and ignorance in the galaxy and was almost powerless to do everything she wanted to do on her own. She needed people who could carry her forward and that person wasn't him.

Some part of him wanted to prove her wrong and be the person who could help, but he was always held back by how incompetent he could be. However, even as Ruby yelled at him, constantly criticizing him for his faults and making him a pitiful fool, she still had the will to admit that she was wrong and explain herself to him. The bossy persona was no more; there was now a true and honest warrior, like how a Jedi could be.

Jaune finally put his own hand on Ruby's shoulder, now feeling the need to cheer her up after blowing out all of her sorrows onto him. The Jedi jerked in surprise, catching the boy smiling weakly at her.

"Hey, Ruby. I want to win this war as much as you do. But I don't think we can do that by fighting each other." he laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. That probably wouldn't last, anyway. "You and I may not always agree on things. You like to do things the hard way. And I… well, prefer the slower approach."

Feeling the inspiration kicking back at him, Jaune rose up and stood over Ruby, wanting to bring her back as well.

"But no matter what happens, we're on the same side. We're a team, so we work together and fight side-by-side until we get to where we want to be. You're a great Jedi, Ruby. You have the strength to help people, and honestly, that's the best reason I can think of in fighting this war."

His hand reached out for her while Ruby stared at him in disbelief. What she saw was the same dork she just screamed at on and on, but this time, she could see the warm glow on his face, with a welcome smile to top it all off. Something about him made her heart warm up after hearing his kind words.

After all she had done, she was sure he was going to finally give up and abandon her, and rightfully so. But he refused to and forgave her for her terrible attitude. He was willing to push his grudges all aside and continue to help her win this war.

Ruby continued to stare at him, processing what she was going to do with him. There was something in him that could make him more than just an unlucky soldier, part of a strong family of warriors. More than just the lucky candidate to be Pyrrha's combat partner.

There was a friend…

"I'll listen to you, if you listen to me." he assured. Now, Ruby didn't feel alone. She was touched, seeing Jaune continue to push on past her patience. She hated to admit it, but he was true with his words.

Swallowing up the last of her pride, Ruby grinned, accepting Jaune's proposal to continue the fight with her. No one would be able to tolerate her fiery attitude any longer (the only person being Kenta) but somehow, Jaune was willing to try.

"You're right. We're a team." she said as she clasped her hand onto Jaune's, hoisting herself up. Standing up to his level, she could finally smile confidently, looking at someone who had the heart for the fight. Finally, there was something she could prove to him, just as he had for her.

"So… What do you say?" Jaune raised his hand for a fist bump. "Partners?" Sighing, Ruby happily accepted the gesture and landed her knuckles on his.

"Let's do this. Then, maybe I can find out what made Pyrrha choose you." She challenged with a sly grin before melting it away with a soft, gentler smile. "Thanks, Jaune."

"You too."

The two turned towards the alleyway, looking at the path they were both ready to take together. Beyond the buildings around them, there was an enemy that far outnumbered them a thousand to one. Their teamwork still needed a lot of fixing to do, but with this one run towards the tower as a team, they could find a way to make it work. A Jedi and a soldier, both driven by the passion to help those who needed their help, could turn this around. Victory was not out of reach just yet.

After being infiltrated and besieged for many times, the tower had become an obvious target for the Republic; the commander in charge of the Separatist forces clearly knew this. Once, the structure had allowed the enemy to broadcast that weak weasel of a Senator's message throughout the hopeless city, somewhat reigniting the flames of war within the people. Flames that were pathetically snuffed out in an instant.

The comms tower could not fall into Republic hands any longer, so it was time to level up security. Windows that were shattered by previous attacks were now fortified by battle droids watching over the area. The base of the building was filled with twice the number of droids than before, turning the courtyard into a barracks. The top of the tower was being wrapped around with a line of laser fencing that would prevent anyone from climbing up. And just to be sure, the platforms were now guarded by snipers who served as the mainline defence when an attack was imminent.

The tower had been transformed into a fortress.

That, however, was not going to stop two ambitious youths from climbing their way to victory.

From atop the roof of an old, abandoned hovel, Ruby and Jaune were peeking over the wall railing, carefully watching the droids patrolling the area. There was no way to sneak from the ground, let alone going loud with full force. Battle droids were all over the place with no chokepoints to sneak past through. Two tanks were now parked at both sides of the entranceway. Outside a full squad of ten droids were marching around the outer premises of the tower. Not even a chubba could be stupid enough to determine just how foolish it would be to charge in on the droids at the courtyard.

With the odds obviously against them, Ruby and Jaune needed to play this carefully. The only way to siege the tower without being caught in the heavy firepower was to go for the original plan; climb up the tower and secure the operations room. But now that they could not reach the tower walls without alerting the enemy, their options were extremely limited.

"We have to climb the tower." whispered Jaune. "There's no other way to do it. No air support, no stealth attacks, no full force."

As Jaune continued to survey the scene, he was unaware that Ruby had crawled behind him, with a smirk on her face. The lack of a proper plan could only mean one thing going forth.

Improvising.

Jaune was about to turn around and speak to Ruby face-to-face, when he found her already standing up behind him. The sneaky smile on her face gave him the cold shoulder.

"What are you doing?" he asked reluctantly.

"See that antenna up there?" Ruby pointed up to the tower, where Jaune could see the lone antenna he used to rappel his way up the last time.

"Uh… yeah. Why do you-?" Before he could finish his question, Ruby had twisted his body back, her hands ready to push out.

"Brace yourself!" She then let out a powerful thrust with her hands, flinging Jaune like a hurricane as he flew towards the tower.

"AAAAIIIIIEEEE!" the boy screamed, flying right over the droid patrols who were sure to hear the wailing zoom by as loud as a fighter in the sky. Two droids happened to be patrolling just below the trajectory of Jaune's flight, catching the sound from the dimming evening sky.

"Did you hear that?" asked the first droid.

"Must be a bird." The other droid dismissed.

"Birds sound like that?"

"It's a big galaxy. There are many kinds that all sound differently."

"Roger, roger."

Just like that, the droids let it slide, leaving Jaune somewhat safe from detection. Though, that didn't please him at all, considering he was thrown from a roof and was slammed into the wall of another. On point, Ruby was able to score her mark at the right direction, allowing her less-than-enthused partner to land safely on top of the antenna.

His backside was safely balancing on top of the antenna, the whole front of his body and his reddened right cheek planted right onto the wall. A familiar predicament that he was faced with all too much. At this point, he felt like he could never escape the reality that he was going to be a ragdoll for the rest of his career. But he supposed if it's all for the greater good, he would let it slide.

"A little warning would have been nice." he grunted.

Ruby was satisfied that her aim was true, and if she had to be honest, she did enjoy watching Jaune fly off like a Gungan plasma boulder. Soon, it was her turn to reach for the tower. For this to work, she would perform her ultimate stunt.

"Okay. I can do this." She rubbed her hands together, calming herself down with a brief meditation and kept her body at peace. Skipping up and down a few times, she then sprinted forward and leapt off the building. Once in the air, she then spun forward with a powerful kick and darted her way towards the tower. Letting the Force propel her forward, Ruby was launched up in the air, zooming for Jaune like a spear, twisting rapidly like a tornado.

She spun and spun, keeping her arms up above her head and her legs straight to keep the flow as smoothly as possible. Her eyes were closed, without looking at where she was going. She kept herself without a thought in the world, letting the Force keep her airborne until she reached where she needed to go. No wishes, no pleas; only believing in the cosmic power to set her course. One of few times where she would let her stubbornness go completely to let a higher power set her loose. Putting her body at ease made her numb, unable to sense what was going on around her.

Such a disconnection from the real world would prove a little more than she bargained for, however…

Once she was sure she was at her destination, Ruby opened her eyes back, only to realize that she was about to miss her mark, just below the antenna. A rush of panic pounded her back, abruptly bringing all of feeling back into her. Soon, her body began to abandon its calm and lose her posture. The darting tornado had vanished, leaving only a flailing girl to hit the wall hard. Her eyes closed again, this time, being ready for the violent crash that awaited her.

But before she could collide with the wall, she felt a harsh tug on her robes, halting her course for the tower before she dangled safely from harm. She could estimate that she was only a few feet above the heavily fortified ground, barely safe from being spotted. She turned her head behind her to find the thing that saved her from bodily harm.

"Gotcha." whispered Jaune, holding on hard as he grabbed a hold of Ruby before she could crash. The rear of Ruby's thick robes stretched down, leaving her hanging helplessly over the danger zone. With all of his strength, Jaune then pulled her up as the Jedi grabbed hold of his other hand before safely rising above the antenna. As he was sighing with relief, the boy was then hit on the head by a furious Ruby.

"Ow!" he squeaked before he looked at her in disbelief. "Really? That's how you thank me?"

"You do not hold a lady by the backside." hissed Ruby as she sneered with her cheeks blushing red.

"I wasn't even-!" Jaune blushed as well, defending himself before deciding it wasn't worth it. "Whatever. Let's just go. And this time, I'll get up there myself."

"Whatever you say." After the brief argument, the two resumed their trip upwards. Jaune took out his ascension gun and fired the cable upwards, the magnetic hook attaching itself underneath the platform at the top of the tower. Securing the line, he then extended his hand to help Ruby up, who promptly refused as expected.

Hoisting his way up, Jaune took the straight way up, followed by Ruby who used each obstruction on the tower wall to climb to the top. The two ascended to the top of the platform, easily dispatching the snipers from underneath with a quick pull from Ruby and a silent bash to the head by Jaune.

The two then hid by the door into the communications room, peeking over to see the room fully occupied by a squad of battle droids and a droideka guarding the stairway entrance. Several other droids were manning the consoles, possibly making sure that the city was properly monitored and secured.

"Droideka at the door." whispered Jaune. He checked his belt to see if he had any more pulse grenades. His hands clapped to find nothing, only his blaster and the other empty pocket. "Dank farrik. No poppers left."

"Don't need 'em." said Ruby confidently. Taking out her lightsaber, she then smirked at him, giving Jaune the idea on another more powerful weapon. "You got me." The boy grinned back, ready to work with Ruby to clear the room and dispose of the enemy presence.

Her saber staff opened up but the blade was kept in. Jaune loaded up his blaster and prepared to move in. This time, they both knew how they were going to move in, trusting each other to follow along and move accordingly. This was going to be an all-out sweep-and-clear move, strike all the droids down as fast as they could. Once they started their attack, the stage would be set. The droids all around the area would be alerted to the noise and would come up to respond to the danger. As soon as they were done cleaning up, they'd have to act fast and do what they came to do in the first place.

Shut down the entire defence network and allow the Republic forces from the outside to renew the assault on Hefrom.

This was for all the people who did not ask to be attacked. People who never wanted to be part of this conflict. The forces that vowed to defend them will do what's right to protect them from the threats that dared to do them wrong. No one was going to stop them from retaking not just the city, not just the planet…

They would have to fight them for the whole galaxy.

And thus, with the assurance that they would work together, Ruby and Jaune moved right in without taking a step back. A silver blade blasted its way out of the saber as the Jedi spun her way in, tailed by Jaune with his blaster at hand. By now, the droids would have heard the blade go off, so it was time to go right in and finish the job.

The pair rushed right in, immediately alerting the entire room of their arrival. The blasters started firing away as Jaune hid behind a control terminal and Ruby running right inside. The room was secured with both sides having battle droids covering the whole area. Ruby went for the left where the droideka was at the doorway, leaving Jaune to handle the right side.

The insectoid droid fired away at all cylinders, deploying its bubble shield to stop the Jedi from advancing. Ruby swung and spun her saber at the battle droids, cutting them down one at a time while deflecting each shot from the droideka's heavy blasters.

On the other hand, Jaune hid behind the console while the three droids at the right fired at him. He peeked over to fire his weapon back at them, aiming hard to hit them. The least he could do was keep the additional droids away from Ruby as she had enough trouble with a droideka as it was. Thankfully, he was able to deal with the droids, shooting them all down, so he could focus his attention back to Ruby.

The Jedi had settled the battle droids, leaving the wreckage littered across the floor. All there was left was the droideka, which still held strongly at the door. Its barrage of blaster fire kept her on the defensive and unable to move forward to finish it off. The bubbly shield was stretched within the entire frame of the doorway; nothing goes in, nothing goes out. Blasters were not going to do any good on the shield, while the Jedi couldn't move forward without being hit.

With brute force out of the way, the two had to play it smart. Thankfully, Ruby was already a step forward. Up above the destroyer, the frame of the door was weakened, with a metal beam cracked and tilted downwards, ready to fall with enough push. Thick enough to crush a gonk droid, it should be heavy enough to smash through the destroyer's shield and flatten the droid itself into a scrap-filled pancake.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, deflecting a blast at the moment. "Blast that beam!" Seeing what Ruby had in mind, Jaune went to work immediately. While Ruby kept her guard up, he seized the chance to aim his weapon at the broken piece. He fired the shot, sending the red bolt right into the crack that held the beam in its place. Struck hard, the beam began to break apart from the frame, dangling dangerously above the droideka. Finally, it could hold no more and the steel beam fell right down. In an instant, the bubble faded off, leaving the destroyer to be pulverized by the sheer weight of the beam. The droid was instantly crushed underneath the metal bar, proving to be a threat no more.

Relaxed and satisfied by the freedom of space, Ruby and Jaune grouped back up to get back to business.

"They definitely heard that. Let's get to work." said Ruby.

"Okay. So, what do we do now?" asked Jaune, remembering just how difficult it was to get into the network with the lack of security access. Meanwhile, Ruby scouted the whole room, looking through the amount of wrecked droids on the floor.

"I've been in situations like this. You always find the guy in charge of the room. He's the one who will have the keys to any control system."

After searching for the droid in question, she then spotted the remains of one droid below Jaune's feet, noticing the blue highlights on its severed head; a feature that was notably absent from the other droids.

"Hand me that one's head." she called out, pointing her finger towards the droid for Jaune. "It's the lead officer, so it should have the access codes." Heeding her words, the boy picked the head up and tossed it to Ruby. The Jedi then quickly made her way to the main terminal, logging into the system by moving the head towards the screen. The console then scanned through the droid's optics before the screen changed, granting them access into the computer.

From there, Jaune took over, taking out his data pad to read through the instructions as reference. After a few confusing minutes, he was able to get to the screen where they could finally commence the shutdown of the city's communications. All they had to do would press the button and the city was clear for attack.

"Okay. Ready to make history?" asked Ruby with a victorious smile. There was no need for Jaune to hold back on anything. This time, they were sure that the day would be won. He gave the Jedi an affirmative grin back, giving her the go-ahead. "Shutting down defences in three… two… one… Now!"

The button was pressed. Within a spilt second, everything would be shut down and the Republic was free to open their assault.

All was quiet out in the canyons as dusk loomed to darken the land in a tint of gloomy purple. The city of Hefrom seemed like a fortress from where Pyrrha could see. The Commander was viewing the fortified city from the high point of a hill, hidden within the towering cliffs on both of their sides. Tank fire could reach them, which was why they chose to hide within the rock formations to shield them from any artillery rounds.

Hiding low on the salty sands, Pyrrha surveyed the entire complex with her electrobinoculars, watching closely for the slightest signal of Ruby and Jaune's progress. The two youngsters had been away on their lone adventure for hours and have not reported back since.

Pyrrha held her breath, trying not think the worst. Unfortunately, there was no word on their conditions; no way of knowing whether they had been captured or killed. Doubt was continuing to be cast on her like a swarm of bugs, disturbing her all around. Tried as she might to battle it, the concern was becoming too much for her. She hated to think about it, but, in and of itself, not knowing something was as bad as, well, the bad news.

As she continued to watch the city, she was soon joined by Kenta, the Jedi Master having done inspecting the troops before the assault they hoped would come. Pyrrha found the man to be optimistic; perhaps a little too optimistic. How he could be so calm when his former Padawan was overwhelmingly in the middle of enemy territory was beyond her. In fact, she couldn't understand how calm he was about bringing her into the war in the first place. It just seemed out of place for a Jedi Master to not be the least bit hesitant to send a young girl into battle. Not that she was any older, but teens like Pyrrha were groomed for battle in Anima. Ruby was a Valesian girl from a farm moon, far too docile to be the birthplace of any warrior. If anything, not even the life of a Jedi would seem fit for her.

"The cannons still up?" he asked, lying down to join Pyrrha in the watch.

"Affirmative." she sighed, seeing the anti-air guns still online with faint signs of activation through electronic lighting. Battle droids continue to maintain a solid defence throughout each and every one of them, with armoured vehicles to fully reinforce the area.

All the while, however, Pyrrha was starting to wonder why Kenta was not being the slightest bit worried. It might seem like a Jedi Master to remain calm in the worst of situations, but for some reason, the apparent complacency of the Jedi Master was starting to eat away at her curiosity, filling her with questions as to his inability to display any concern for Ruby. He seemed like a father figure to the former Padawan, after all.

"You think those two are okay over there?" she asked, trying not to seem too direct.

"I can only hope." responded Kenta, a rather uncomfortable response for Pyrrha. She was about to ponder on, but the Master beat her to the punch by asking her something else.

"You had a talk with Ruby earlier. How did it go?" At first, Pyrrha did feel a little easier, since he did consider about Ruby's wellbeing at some point. Unfortunately, that did nothing to dispel her curiosity of the young girl's position in the war.

"I can see where she gets her stubbornness." laughed Pyrrha, hiding her concerns. "You two have more in common than you might perceive."

"I get that a lot." chuckled Kenta. The Jedi Master decided to follow up with his own take on the boy who followed Ruby to Hefrom. "Jaune's a great kid. He just needs a push in the right direction."

"That's what I always tell him." sighed Pyrrha. The talk about her partner's shortcomings had given her new reasons to be worried.

"By some miracle, those two might actually make this work." commented Kenta. Now, this was the time for Pyrrha to push forward and find the answers she needed, while she didn't sound too suspicious.

"You don't believe in them?" asked Pyrrha as she put her binoculars away.

"I have my hopes, but I can't really promise myself they'll hit it off in an instant." said Kenta.

"But about your Padawan…" She stopped for a moment, hesitation nearly choking her. "You have pushed her in a very dangerous position. If I'm not mistaken, Padawans don't become knights at her age."

Kenta could feel the sudden rise of concern and doubt in Pyrrha. The essence around her was swimming wildly with perplexed doubt, possibly at her thoughts on Ruby. Other than that, disappointment, as if she was baffled by how quickly Jedi at his Padawan's age could ever be flung into battle before they could even spring out on their own.

To be frank, she had a right to be worried. In fact, Kenta, too, had the same thoughts and doubts. It was the same feeling he had when the Council agreed to push the rise in ranks among the Order. Younglings were rushed into training under unprepared Masters, Padawans to be knighted and sent to the frontline, mainly against their will and out of sheer desperation. This was the unfortunate reality that Kenta had set in. The day Ruby was to be knighted was the day he dreaded the most.

If anything, Pyrrha's curiosity may have sparked something inside him that made him feel… uncertain.

"I was quite surprised when you told me she didn't take the Trials, let alone making this war her own Trials." continued Pyrrha. For a while, Kenta remained silent, taking in the fears he had before and reminding himself of what eventually made him decide on allowing Ruby to fight in the first place.

"I really didn't want this to happen. Ruby's too young to face something like this." he agreed.

"And yet, the Council pushed her anyway." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah. But I'm putting my faith that she has learnt enough to stand a chance in this conflict. After all, she's already gotten herself into enough danger as it is. And she wants to help the galaxy. That's probably the best trait she has going for her."

Kenta remembered just how much Ruby wanted to go around saving people, even if it meant breaking a few rules. No matter how many times she had to be reminded to restrain herself, she had never allowed anything to back her down when it came to coming to aid of those who needed the Jedi the most. There were times where he was worried, of course. In the end, however, after years of raising her, there was nothing much he could do to quell the rebellious spirit inside this rambunctious lass he decided to become a Master to.

"Trust me. If I had the power, I would do anything to keep Ruby away from horrid things like this." he continued, his voice now wrecked with a sudden sense of dread.

Breathing in, he had to assure himself that Ruby was far more than the Padawan he was tasked to raise and train. After all, she was Summer Rose's daughter. If anything, trouble will find her instead of the other way around.

"But the Force is with her. I can trust it will keep from running into a star when she starts flying her own starfighter."

And yet, done as he might to convince Pyrrha, the Commander was not entirely sold on the whole explanation.

"Did I say something wrong?" he said, noticing the doubt that remained.

"No, no! Nothing of the sort." Pyrrha hiccupped, fearing that her inquisition of Kenta's beliefs had become out of hand. "It's just… I didn't think the Council would be okay to send young ones to battle. Didn't it ever cross your mind of how wrong it might be for such unprepared students to knighthood so quickly?

"Forgive me. I'm not one to judge how the Jedi Order functions. I just hate to see such young souls be forced into the darkest of hours."

"I understand." acknowledged Kenta. "Don't worry. I'm sure the Council has chosen the right students to bring. And they are usually accompanied by their former Masters anyway. Take Ruby and I for example. I'll make sure she gets stronger and wiser from this."

"That's good." Pyrrha breathed out in silence, with little relief in her voice. She could take some comfort knowing that there were some exceptions. It did not, however, completely calm her down. Just as she was about to forget she asked, Kenta had some more to say.

"What about Jaune? Isn't he a tad bit too inexperienced to be anywhere near someone of your calibre? No offense, of course." he said, wanting to take advantage of Pyrrha's curiosity to further his understanding of her nature.

"None taken. I suppose you're right. But there's something about Jaune that really stands out. I don't know what it is, but there is a fire that can really burn and light up the darkest of hours." explained Pyrrha. She thought back to the time she saw him perform for the first time at the academy. Seeing him put others over himself definitely proved to her that he was already on his way to becoming the right soldier. "Jaune may not be the fittest or the strongest, but his heart is golden and it shows. If those two can realize how much they want to help, they might just be a perfect team."

A nod from Kenta gave Pyrrha the freedom from her worries at last. Hearing herself speak of Jaune made her think about Ruby, seeing how the two of them could both overcome the challenge that would otherwise be prohibited to youths their age. Actually, maybe she could actually think about herself. She was the same age as her combat partner after all, and the Jedi was only two years younger. If she could become a worthy soldier herself, then she supposed the two could, too.

"What about you?" Suddenly, Kenta continued on. "You're just about their age. How did you decide on doing this?"

At once, Pyrrha had her back against the wall, not expecting the Jedi to ask her of her own position. For as long as she served with the special forces, she hadn't really looked back at what allowed her to make it this far into her career. No one had asked her about it, so she didn't really need to think about it. Now, at the rare moment of uncertainty, someone decided to give her the chance to explain herself. Why was she any different from the youngsters who were being pushed into the fight?

She took a moment to release herself, admitting to herself that she had been a little too judgemental of the topic. Now that Kenta had asked, she supposed she had to tell him what gave her the right to take part in a war like this.

"As warriors of Mistral, we had to serve our home as much as we could. I decided to enlist into the army at a young age, so the warrior monks at our home trained me to become a fighter from the age of thirteen."

Pyrrha lingered back at her past, reminding herself of the hardships and lessons she learnt when she was brought to the Grand Temple of Championship in Mistral.

"The training was rigid and brutal. The jungles of Anima were no playground for little kids like me to mess around in." She then thought about the harsh training she spent years doing, having to fend for herself and her fellow students to build the warrior she eventually became. "We went through rigorous courses and had to survive on our own to prove ourselves. Guided by nothing else but the Force." It was almost like she was back in her developing years, where the trauma and the unrelenting danger would keep her on the move and not being able to get much rest. It was always a struggle, but there was the feel of the Force that accompanied her to keep her going. The power of its light compelled her inner might, giving her the path to prevail in her trials. For that, she achieved so much, down to the approval of the council of the temple's monks.

"The next thing you know it; I was enlisted into the army. It was my way of fulfilling my desires to help people." That brought her to the first days of military service. At the ripe age of fifteen, she was already a prodigy, serving in multiple skirmishes and insurgencies alongside some of Remnant's other chosen individuals. The tribulations only got harder and the stakes far greater. And still, there was the Force to keep her from falling.

"It's because of the Force that I was able to get this far. I felt it leading me to this role, telling me that this is what I must do to preserve peace and help people throughout the system. I didn't question my choice, neither did I do anything to stop me. I just went for it, as long as I know it is the right choice to make."

Listening heartily to Pyrrha's story, Kenta nodded, understanding the resolve she had, despite her young age. Knowing how the Force played its game on certain special individuals, there was no surprise it had its influence on the red-haired girl. With this, he began to wonder if it was doing the same for Jaune; someone who was far from the prestigious pride of Anima that was Pyrrha Nikos. Perhaps, with Ruby by his side, he could find the same path his partner did.

"That's a commendable way to look at it." said Kenta.

"Maybe I misjudged the Jedi a little bit, didn't I?" laughed Pyrrha, realizing her mistake.

"Not necessarily." assured Kenta.

Pyrrha's comfort began to take in after the brief talk, knowing that the Jedi were not entirely blind to the dangers of the war. It may not completely get rid of her worries, especially about the fates of their young knights, but there were steps to ensure their safety. The Jedi accompanying her on this mission were definitely worth having by their side. That had kept her intrigued for what was to come in the future.

Suddenly, Pyrrha saw something happening outside the walls. Taking her binoculars, she took another look at the cannons. The large legged guns started to topple down, powering down and devoid of any sign of electronic activity. One by one, Pyrrha saw the other cannons deactivate all at once, causing the surrounding battle droids to frantically spur into apparent panic.

Just to double check, she then peered towards the tall tower at the centre of the city. There, she saw the flashes of red light coming from the top, signalled by the two. The pair had done it; they had shut down the droid defences.

"The cannons are down!" exclaimed Pyrrha excitedly.

"Well, I'll be a Kowakian monkey-lizard's uncle. They actually did it." laughed Kenta.

Pyrrha got up and turned around, invigorating the urgency to call the troops and have every single unit to move towards the city. Bolstered by the opening Ruby and Jaune made, she was ready to set things straight for the people of the planet.

She jumped into the flat area where several gunships were parked. The troopers were all resting and chatting away, their weapons all at the ready before their commanding officer came right in and signalled for everyone to make their move.

"Load up, everyone! The cannons are down and our chance to take the city is ours!" she cheered with a hint of authority, calling on the men to get up and take arms. Carolina, who was at the centre talking to the troops, followed along and helped to rally everyone up.

"You heard her! Get your backs to it! Into the ships!" he yelled to everyone, pointing towards the nearest gunship. "GO! GO! GO!"

At once, the troopers rose up and ran for their transports faster than Pyrrha could count. They filed into the transports, filling up as much space in the gunships as possible before they took off. The commander watched them all leave the area as the ships flew right overhead and flew straight for the city for the renewed assault.

"Looks like those two were able to make it through after all." said Kenta. At last, Pyrrha could feel hope again. After what they did, she was certainly glad that she had her doubts out of the way, for now.

With youths like Ruby and Jaune leading the way, the situation almost seemed hopeful. Not enough to win the war, but it was a start. Perhaps, the Force had its ways with the most unlikely of heroes…

Jaune and Ruby awaited near the exit of the tower, expecting the gunships to arrive and clear the city of all outer threats. Moments after they signalled to Pyrrha that the coast was clear, they watched the skies, spotting the fleet of gunships coming right for the city walls. While blaster fire greeted the ships and painted the skies in a flurry of explosions, the firepower was nothing more than bulky lasers, not powerful enough to obliterate any of the transports. They then sent in their own response, firing away with barrages of missiles and beams of green, singeing energy onto the ground.

"There they go." said Ruby. A chorus of engines and blaster fire sang over the city, brightening up the darkening sky with the colours of war. The feeling of victory couldn't be any sweeter, even after the tumultuous hours trying to take the tower. The fruits of their labour were ripe for the picking.

Suddenly, Ruby's skin began to jolt, sensing imminent danger coming their way.

"Get out!" In an instant, she grabbed Jaune, who couldn't respond on time before he was being carried away by the Jedi. She ran right out the door and jumped up onto the railing, right before the striking feeling reached its peak.

"Hold on!" Holding Jaune as tightly as she could, she then made the daring move and plunged right over the edge, leaving Jaune to scream helplessly as they freefell from the tower. Right after they took the fall, the tower behind them lit up in a brilliant, violent flash of light, followed by a massive explosion that roared through the fletching night.

Falling hard like a meteor, Ruby activated her speedy trick as she pulled her spinning body upwards as hard as she could, dragging herself and Jaune upwards in a desperate attempt to prevent a straight and brutal crash onto the ground. The least she could do was make a rough landing like a falling starship. It won't be a gentle landing, but you certainly won't be pulverized and be splattered all over the place. However, wishing for a soft landing was a tall order. She couldn't be able to control where exactly she wanted to land on, so she had to trust that the Force wouldn't send her and Jaune to an early grave.

Once she had reached the right angle, she then braced herself, pressing all the muscles in her body to brace for the impact. Finally, she touched down, her whole body dragging harshly along the hardened floor of the roof of another building, protected by nothing more than her armorweave cape while shielding Jaune from the fall. Eventually, she had to roll to a stop, releasing her partner from her grip.

When she got up, Ruby was instantly met with a burning reception. Her right shoulder was suddenly searing hot, causing her to skip uncontrollably in pain.

"Hot! Hot!" The rough landing was very well the culprit of her little injury, which explained why it was so burning hot. After cooling her shoulder off, Ruby relaxed and took a good look at the tower. The two had landed safely on the roof, moments before the massive explosion blew up the entire top of the tower. A huge fuming mushroom of fire raged, rising into the already battle-filled air and flashing up the darkening skies from out of what was once the communications room, now nothing more than detached rubble.

As the battle raged all over the city, the chaotic songs of war echoed through the approaching night. Battle droids could be heard marching all over the ground while the alarm rang throughout Hefrom, combining with the booming blasts of explosive noise up above.

Ruby watched the skies as the transports came running by, a few of them successfully landing into the city with troops ready to retake it. As she continued to look on, Jaune rose up, shivering madly from the wild ride he had to take. Like coming out of a rollercoaster ride, the boy was about to launch a puke bomb after having the nausea and dread in his system. Alas, he held on, probably because his body was too in shock for him to throw up.

"You okay?" asked Ruby, taking what little luxury to poke fun at him.

"Yeah. Could have been better if you warned me you were going to do that." Shaking his head, Jaune voiced his discontent of being blindsided by the Jedi's apparently reflexive exit.

However, before Ruby could resume her fun, the same warning surge zapped through her body again, warning her of another danger.

"Incoming!" Ruby then jumped and pushed Jaune out of the way, right before another explosion rocked the building they were on. Landing onto the city ground before the roof blew up, they rolled into the grainy ground in another rough fall. They found themselves within the alleyways, compressed within tight corners and vulnerable to being squished in by any pursuing droids.

Ruby's senses began to go off like a flurry of radar signals, beeping all at once. Slowly, some disturbing presences were converging around them. Seconds later, Jaune heard the marching noises getting closer and closer, sending alarms down his own spine. Both fighters remained still in the middle, waiting for the eventual arrival of the battle droids.

Jaune surveyed the area around them, seeing nothing to hide behind, nowhere strategically safe to fire from. There was only one way to keep himself protected from the overwhelming odds acting against him, and that was to keep close to Ruby at all times. With her spinning tricks and her Force powers, she would be more of a shield to him than his own one.

"You sure we can take them?" asked Jaune.

"We don't have a choice now, do we?" said Ruby. "We'll just have to hold them off until help comes crashing in."

"Right."

"Can I trust you to stay on course this time?" asked Ruby, shifting her head to get a look at Jaune's face when he answers.

"If nothing else distracts me, then here's hoping." laughed Jaune, but with a not-so-satisfying way to lighten the mood. At the very least, he was focused as Ruby could feel his determination. The same warm feeling that felt like a rush of fire that burned with hope and compassion, when he had his meltdown with her earlier. Though he wasn't at his best, Ruby would need to stand with Jaune if they were to have a fighting chance against the incoming enemy.

"Good luck." said Jaune as he drew his blaster out.

"Pfft! I'm a Jedi. I don't need luck, because there's no such thing." Ruby chortled, activating her lightsaber and giving him a cocky grin. A knowing smile was etched on Jaune's face. Pyrrha always told him to never take things for chance that believing in blind luck would get him nowhere. For both her and Ruby to take such strides without letting such abstract factors from putting them down, it was surely a Force-related matter.

For now, however, the time had come to defend themselves; with or without the Force. The footsteps got louder, the danger getting closer. Dozens of droids were about to greet them in a very tight spot, pinning them down with little more than a lightsaber and a few guts to defend themselves with.

With their defences at the ready, the two were beginning to see the droids appear over the end of the alleys. Upon seeing them, the mechanical menace began to fire their volleys at them. At once, Ruby danced around Jaune, ensuring that he was well protected as he fired from within her saber's range.

The laser bolts raged towards the pair like a rain of hellfire, descending upon them with dangerous vigour. Ruby's saber began twirling wildly as she kept her defence up. Sending out as much energy throughout her body as she could in a composed manner, she kept her focus on the person she defended. Her continuous movements and swings of her saber kept Jaune safe within the performance of blades happening around him.

Every time there was an opening in her defence, Jaune fired at the direction of where the lightsaber left him exposed, keeping the formation secure and ensures that they were attacking and defending at all angles.

As both Jedi and soldier held the line down, their teamwork began to make work on the battle droids. Bolt by bolt, each individual droid was hit and broken down, slowly having their numbers reduced. But their formation was still numerically strong and they began to close in on the two sole enemies.

The droids marched on, trapping the Jedi and the soldier and tightening the circle, leaving Ruby and Jaune with shrinking time to make a breakthrough. Ruby preserved as much as she could, but ignoring the growing tiredness in herself was easier said than done. Her incredible speed and solid defensive prowess were draining away at her energy as her legs grew tired and her grip was about to loosen.

Noticing her waning strength and being tired out himself, Jaune shouted out to Ruby, worrying that she would lose her hold on the battle.

"Ruby! You holding up okay?!" Blocking as hard as she did, Ruby couldn't respond properly, stopping between breaths to strike against the enemy fire.

"Yeah! Sure! Still good here!" insisted Ruby, though, it did little to convince Jaune.

He had to think of a way to break away from the attack. Even a Jedi's perseverance could last so long. He had to free Ruby of the struggle or they'd be roasted corpses before the Republic could save them. Unfortunately, all possible paths out were blocked by rows of battle droids, leaving them with no easy way out.

So, he tried to look up, trying his best to keep up with helping Ruby with the droids at the same time. The roofs seemed like a plausible alternative to escape through. With little to no air support before the Republic could retake the city, there was very little opposition that could possibly stall them. If they kept running through the roofs and signalled for a transport to come help them, they'd be safe and sound.

Or they could be fired upon by other roof-bound droids or get blown up by an artillery round…

Either way, anything was better than staying in a deadlock with battle droids threatening to squeeze them in and blast them to oblivion.

"Okay! We head up to the top and call a gunship to pick us up!" he called. Finally getting the grasp of her lowered energy, Ruby couldn't argue with Jaune's idea. Though it was not the most convincing plan, she had no other option to think about while she was defending herself. The Republic was already about to descend upon Hefrom like angels from the heavens, ready to liberate them from the robotic plight.

"Gotcha!" Ruby acknowledged the idea. At the same time, she already had her own plan to get themselves up there. When the storm grew too much for them to handle, Ruby was ready to loosen herself and break her defence, if only to make her move and slip out of the hail of fire. "You ready?!"

"What do you think?!" shouted Jaune.

"Okay!" At once, Ruby spun her body and dive down, using the Force to grab hold of Jaune before pushing him upwards. Once again, the boy screamed at the unexpected approach as he was sent flying up in the air before landing onto the roof of a nearby building. After saving him, Ruby followed behind and zoomed up to join him to safer ground, leaving the battle droids behind.

When Ruby got up to the roof, she spotted Jaune rubbing his backside after she threw him over. Several rough landings in one day were already so much the boy could take. With an irritated look, he peered up to the Jedi.

"Really?" he murmured.

"What? You did tell me to warn you." teased Ruby.

Not wanting to lose another second, they got back up and ran across the rooftops, looking for a gunship to signal and have it pick them up for extraction. For all they knew, their parts were done and all they had to do next was to survive until help came about.

After about a few minutes of running and avoiding as much contact with the enemy as possible, the pair found a lone transport coming down to land its load of troops. Waving heavily for the pilot, they waited for the ship to make its landing and give them their ticket out of Hefrom.

However, as it came close to the city's level, a sudden projectile came firing from below, smashing into the gunship and exploding on impact. Ruby and Jaune, stunned by the immediate and abrupt blow, could only watch in vain as the burning transport came plummeting to the ground. The fireball found itself landing a rough one onto the streets as the pair ran their way to assess the situation.

Viewing the damage from above the roofs, they watched for any signs of life amidst the flaming wreckage that has dug into a huge crater onto the dirt road. The right wing of the gunship was severed off, left a good distance away from the vehicle. The entire hull of the ship was bent in a slight angle; not entirely destroyed, but the size of the fire, and the way it was spreading onto it, suggested that it was about to be anytime soon.

The damage was quite severe that, to Jaune, it didn't seem like anyone was getting out of it alive. At that moment, however, Ruby could feel a faint sense of life coming from the ship, suggesting that there were survivors. Surely enough, a few seconds after the crash, a lone clone came from out of the open doorway, crawling out slowly. Then, another clone came out, giving the other a hand as they both stood up weakly. They limped around for a bit, as if they had sustained some damage when the ship was hit and crashed.

But just when it seemed like the worst was over, it was only getting started.

As soon as the clones came out, the scene was lit with laser fire again. Battle droids were walking in with their blasters firing all cylinders onto the crashed gunship. Overwhelmed, the clones ran to cover, hiding behind the burning wreck in a desperate attempt to protect themselves. They were soon caught in an unfair firefight, injured and shell-shocked, with their only means of protection about to explode at any moment.

And it just kept getting worse from there…

Right behind the droids, from far away. a battle tank was about to enter the fray, aiming its long cannon at the gunship. While out of range, it still posed an enormous threat to the clones stuck at the other end of the road. One shot would immediately clear the entire area. The clones would stand no chance at surviving the blast if it came.

"Those clones need our help. I'm going to get them to safety." said Ruby, preparing to jump down and further pushed by the alarming presence of a heavily armed vehicle. All she had to do was jump in and sweep everyone up before making a quick getaway. It wasn't going to be an easy rescue, but someone had to do it.

In the meantime, Jaune eyed the tank that came their way. The big hunk of metal was still a frightening sight to behold and it still stunned him without failure. Its mighty power was more than enough to shake him and Ruby from out of their strongest positions.

Then, that was when he thought about the lives that were about to be threatened by the tank, Ruby included. Looking at the streets, he knew there was a way to stop it; there was a chance for him to make a difference.

He vowed to himself that he'd be better than cowering in the face of danger. He was a soldier now; he was going to have to brave the danger and do the galaxy some good. It was what he was raised and trained to do. If he held back anymore, then Pyrrha's decision to take him under her wing would have been a waste; he would be nothing more than a hopeless fool who couldn't help his comrades. Lives would be lost all because he was too nuna to do anything.

However, Jaune was still more than a little shaky when it came to taking on a tank of its power. He had to find a way to stop it without standing at the front and trying to attack it. There was the old attempt at sneaking up to it and attempting to open up the hatch. However, could he really do it if the doors were going to be sealed shut?

It was then that, this time, he had himself thinking. Maybe there was a way to get into the tank, if he just used his head a little…

"Then, I'll get the tank." With enough courage to stand up, Jaune then leapt up and ran along the roofs, leading towards the street where the tank was about to come to.

"Jaune, wait!" Shocked by his sudden movement, Ruby wanted to stop him, but the boy was already on the other building next to hers.

"This time; I won't miss!" he shouted back to her, assuring her that he was going to make it. Part of Ruby wanted to chase after him, not wanting him to mess up again or getting himself killed. He may have proven to her that he had the heart for battle, but that didn't mean he could go solo and take on the enemy on his own.

Unfortunately, the sounds of battle distracted her, turning her attention back to the clones in need of saving. There were lives that were trapped in such fatal conditions and she needed to save them.

Alas, she decided to give Jaune a shot at it. He was not going to be a big screw-up for long, so she had to trust him to get the job done. It was a long shot, but it was a shot nonetheless. Pushing all of her doubts aside, Ruby raced to help the clones down on the street, saber shining brightly and poised to defend the needy.

Injured, shell-shocked and trapped…

Shattered to the bone, being pelted by blaster fire with a burning gunship around them. Two clones with nothing more than a couple of carbines that they couldn't even hold steady, against an army of droids shooting at them.

Where there were once a full healthy squad of troopers ready for combat, there were now only two, unable to keep their heads together.

The two only clones to survive the crash were now in a fatal situation, using only the wrecked ship to shield them from the danger ahead. While the burning blaze barely did anything to heat their skins up, the blinding flashes of the flames blinded them, forcing them to shoot clumsily as they tried to defend themselves.

One thing they knew about the training drones back home was that they had such terrible aims and could not shoot a bug on the fly. If a bunch of them started shooting, however, the terrible shots would evolve into a blistering hailstorm of bolts. No need to aim, no need to focus; a storm of 'spray-and-pray' could very well hit something.

Unfortunately, for the clones, they were not dealing with training drones anymore. These were battle droids, armed and dangerous. A blaster bolt will kill, and there were hundreds of bolts hitting all over them. A few close calls happened every second, and it was about to get a whole lot worse once the droids came nearer.

There was nothing the wounded could do but fire back, hanging onto hope that they could last long enough to thin their numbers. At this point, they might as well welcome death. if they were going to be blasted apart, they could just lessen the damage these droids could do to their brothers landing down elsewhere.

And so, they continued firing, ready to embrace their ends soon enough.

That was, until the firing suddenly lessened. The blaster fire got lighter; the heat being dusked away by a sudden appearance. The sound of humming, buzzing energy, swinging between them and the droids came to be. Suddenly, the clones were no longer under fire when they saw someone in front of them, taking all the hits for them.

The cloaked figure just swooped herself out of nowhere with a mighty weapon in her hand. A silver blade at one end and a metal scythe on the other, the girl spun it round and around, deflecting the shots away from the burning transport. She shifted about like a graceful dancer, keeping her weapon on the defence at all turns.

When she was done spinning, the girl then reached out with her hand and aimed it towards the ship. All of a sudden, the bent door panel at the side of the ship ripped itself out and was flung out. She then swung her arm over and threw the panel towards the droids. Its wide span crashed right into the entire formation of droids, decimating all in its path. Any droid remaining found themselves in a loss of formation and began to scurry back into the streets.

With the trouble temporarily over, the figure approached the clones, who immediately recognized the saviour who came to their aid.

"You okay, boys?" the girl asked, with her familiar voice of bravado giving them relief.

"General! Are we glad to see you!" cheered one of the injured clones. With a helping hand, Ruby pulled them out of the debris. However, they were hardly the only ones still alive. "The pilots. They're still in there." The clone pointed to the front of the gunship, with Ruby sensing fainter pulses coming from within the shattered duo of glass cockpits. Peering over, she saw the limp body of one of the pilots, with an arm dangling down from the lower cockpit.

"Leave it to me." said Ruby as she raced to rescue the trapped pilots on board the burning wreck. While there were no droids in that moment, there was still a tank on its way to finish them off. She had to take action while the situation was still relatively peaceful, free of blaster fire, holding on to some miracle that Jaune would buy her some time.

The armoured hunk of pure metal hovered ever so closely towards the downed gunship, with its cannon already ready to fire once it came over the elevated road.

Jaune watched the vehicle inch closer to the crash site from the safety of a roof, waiting for the titan right below him. Taking in a few breaths, he tried to maintain his calm. His grip on his blaster tightened with the tension of being alone with a giant-sized obstacle in the way.

His eyes scanned the closed hatch on the turret; his only way into the tank. Remembering his last encounter with one, he had to have one plan to enter this one. Thankfully, he may have had a way through the tough sealing.

If he remembered his past battles so far, battle droids were not the brightest buckets of bolts in the galaxy. They were easy to distract, easy to stall and easy to strike when the path was open. Perhaps, he could use this to his advantage.

His throat pushed into a gulp, his nerves jittering with fear. And yet, despite the unease, his heart still burned with determination. Whatever he was going to do; he'd do it for the people who needed him the most.

Finally, one last prayer in his head and Jaune raced forward and jumped, making a clumsy fall onto the top of the tank. His whole body crashed on the domed hatch, producing a thumping sound in the process. Though the drop was painful, he shrugged it off and quickly got up behind the hatch, knowing that the fall was loud enough for the crew inside to hear.

Surely enough, the hatch opened, and popping from out of the hole, the turret gunner peered over to see what had fallen on the tank.

"Who goes there?" The droid swayed its head from side to side, but was still unaware of the presence coming from behind it.

With all of his strength, Jaune quickly grabbed hold of the droid and tossed it away, causing it to collide into a house and break apart instantly.

"Sorry!" he joked as he readied his blaster. Next, he quickly slid into the turret and squeezed his way through the narrow opening between the gun seat and the driver's seat. He then fired at the driver at the front and two more by the sides, leaving the tank completely out of commission and free for Jaune to take the wheel. Or rather, sticks…

Hopping on board, Jaune took a moment to test the pilot controls, checking to see if it was doable for him to work with. By his sides, there were two metal sticks that could be moved from side to side. At his feet, there were the pedals that would obviously be for moving the tank back and forth. The red camera screen was right in front of him, giving him an electronic view of the streets all around him.

Adjusting himself at his seat, Jaune grabbed hold of the sticks while putting his feet onto the pedals. As simple as it might have seemed, he soon found himself feeling the difficulty coming. As he pressed his foot down, he found himself thrusting forward with full speed, causing him to shriek in sudden shock.

"They got crab droids!" The clone trooper shouted out with a warning. Not long after she had saved the pilots from a fiery grave, Ruby bolted to the direction of the clone's voice, only to find a greater menace coming her way.

Atop the roofs of the buildings, two crab-like droids crawled out in an attempt to ambush them. They began to move in a zig-zag pattern, frantically shifting from side-to-side as if they were drunk. The blasters mounted on their faces fired away as they made their pursuit.

Jumping in front of the clones, Ruby defended them as best she could. Despite getting a good stance, the droids' crazy movements made it all the harder to deflect back. The few times she managed to hit them, they always bounce off the hard, armoured panels that protected their appendages.

Tried as she might, Ruby struggled to keep them back as the crab droids sped their way for the crash site. With the droids getting closer and closer, she knew she had to fight them head on. Six sharp legs and a mouthful of blaster fire? Screw it! She had to take them on or they will die anyway!

Just as she was about to release herself and go for the offensive, one of the crab droids was suddenly blasted apart by a bulky laser bolt from afar, sending it crashing into a building. Down the street, she could see the tank standing at the road, having fired the shot that destroyed the first crab.

Before she could wonder what was going on with that tank, a frightening hissing sound shook her off. Spinning around just as she sensed the danger coming, she was too late to react before she was pounced and snagged down by the second crab droid in a claw-like grip. Tackled to the ground, Ruby lost her hold on her lightsaber, the long saber-scythe sliding away from her.

The crab droid began to work its way at Ruby, trying to spear its legs at her. Its front legs kicked into the dirt as she kept moving her head around to avoid being skewered. After being trapped and being unable to move around, she struggled to reach out to her fallen saber with her one free hand, all while having her focus being interrupted again and again.

Jaune watched in horror as he saw the crab droid trying to impale the Jedi, helpless as he knew he couldn't shoot it off with the power of the tank without taking Ruby with it. He wanted to jump out of the tank and help her up with his own strength, but that would leave him just as vulnerable as she was.

Despite the tiring struggle, Ruby kept her eyes on the saber, putting all of her strength into pulling it into her hand. Then, the droid raised both of its legs to go for the heavy strike. That was the moment she had to fully pull in her weapon. Finally, the saber flew right off the ground and spun its way towards her. In a split second, she focused the weapon until its metal blade was pointed right at her attacker. The saber then speared itself into the side of the droid's abdomen, causing it to flinch and stop its attack on Ruby. After stunning the droid, she felt the tight grip fade in an instant, allowing her body to break free for her to push the droid off with the push of her hands.

The droid was thrown off with the strong, abstract force of Ruby's powers, hurling into the air. Seizing the opportunity, Jaune jumped for the controls and pressed on the fire button, shooting a blast from one of the side guns and obliterating the crab droid into smithereens. The blinding explosion caused Ruby to spin around from the recoil, shielding herself from the falling debris.

She looked up after the droid's destruction to see the tank having fired another shot. Waiting to see what was going to happen, she then spotted the top hatch opening up. From out of the hole, and to her utmost relief, she saw the unmistakeable image of a blonde kid popping out.

"You okay over there?!" Jaune shouted from afar.

Before Ruby could shout back in response, a sharp surge knocked her in the head, turning her towards the sky. From afar, two gunships were coming towards her area, flying at alarming speeds. The closer they moved in, the sooner she realized that they were not going to just fly by and pick them up. The more she looked into it, the gunships seemed to be heading for the tank. Knowing what this meant, Ruby yelled out to Jaune in a hurry.

"Jaune! Get out of there!"

Jaune saw the panic on Ruby's face, prompting him to turn around and see the gunships close the distance. Unfortunately, it was no rescue party as he saw the missiles fired away from the ships and were zooming right for him. In a split second, he frantically rushed to jump off the vehicle. Once his feet were ready to kick off, the missiles were almost milliseconds away before he finally jumped.

It was only then the missiles finally came and a brilliant explosion rocked the street.

The force of the blast blinded Ruby for a split second before she saw the tank burning after being totalled. More importantly, she raced towards the wreckage to find Jaune, worried that he had been enveloped in the ensuing explosion. She ran close to the blast site, searching the ground for any sign of the boy.

Right behind the flaming mess, there she saw a body sprawled across the road, spurring her to run towards it. She crouched down to monitor the fallen soldier, picking him up by the head gently. Carefully pushing his back up as she caressed the back of his head, waiting worriedly for any signs of life.

Thankfully, Jaune's eyelids twitched, his lips tensing up as he was being stirred back into consciousness. His eyes then opened up groggily, a bit of muttering escaping his mouth before he finally started seeing the gleaming pale face of the Jedi above him. The pain and the nausea started to seep in as well, with a few singes across his own face. Struggling to view her with his weakened state, Jaune coughed up a bit.

"Are you okay?" asked Ruby, feeling a little relaxed that Jaune had lived through the misfire. Still reeling from the blowout, the boy took a brief moment to break through the encumbering nausea before he spoke.

"Am I dead… or am I dreaming? Because you're actually being less bossy…"

Suddenly, Ruby's relieved smile turned into a grumpy frown. A little offended by the lame remark, she threw him off her lap, feeling that he deserved another rough landing.

"Ow…"

It took the Republic forces almost two hours to clear the city of Hefrom of all droid presence. What was once thought to be an impossible pipe dream became a successful takeover. Clones began to take the place of the battle droids as the liberators of the people, allowing the citizens to finally exit their homes and be free of the oppression that very few thought was impossible to get rid of. The entire city had transformed from a ghost town into a life-filled complex of joyful folks.

Crowds of citizens flocked to the streets to cheer for the liberators in white armour, letting all of their sorrows and fears be washed away in the celebrations. The troopers moved about the city; some waving to the crowds and basking in the glorious cheers, others patrolling the streets and ensuring that the city was secured and free of all enemies.

While the Republic forces solidified their hold on Hefrom, two youngsters were able to finally enjoy the enlightening feeling of victory after what felt like a day of struggling.

Resting himself against a hovel, Jaune spent the rest of the Republic entry process relaxing after being caught in a never-ending loop of chaos and dread that he had to go through since he first touched down on the planet. After being tossed around by enemies and bossy Jedi alike, he could finally take ease and enjoy the peace that he stumbled so hard for.

His whole body, rocked by continuous conflict and stress, was finally let loose, slumped to the ground like a ragdoll. His head was still spinning from the recent brush with death, but it was slowly being refreshed by the presence of a peace that he had earned from his constant struggles. All of the hardships he had to go through in the course of a few days were finally over.

Well, there was one more pain to go through…

THUD!

"Ow!" Jaune's head reeled from a sudden strike to the head by a tiny object. A pebble skipped in front of him after apparently hitting him on that exact spot. What followed was the appearance of the culprit who threw the pebble. Smirking below him, her pale face being darkened by the shadows shrouded from the setting sun behind her, Ruby placed her hands on her hips, looking teasingly on the weakened soldier.

"Hey, get up." she snickered.

"Come on. Can't a fighter take a break? It feels like I've been in this freaking city forever." groaned Jaune, still not wanting to rise.

Ruby shook her head, finding herself back to the incompetent little brat who she first met at this very city.

Though, she had to admit; she was glad she brought him along. Jaune did pull through on the final stretch. As lumbering and foolish as he was, as unfit and clumsy as his body could be, his heart was still at the right place. Perhaps, she was being a little too stubborn to see through his less-than-impressive physique.

In fact, he definitely showed her just how far he could go to prove himself, willing to throw himself into the fray despite the shortcomings.

For that, as she would hate to say it out loud, Ruby had finally decided to give him the respect he deserved. For now, at least…

However, the less said about her thoughts, the better…

"You can nap in your caravan of cowardice back in the ship. Come on." teased Ruby as she turned to walk away from the slumbering mutt. "Our superiors are calling for us."

His time of relaxation was at an end. Jaune stretched his limbs out and rose up to his feet. Though still desperately in need of proper rest, he prepared himself to last a little longer before he could return to the comfort of his quarters. Besides, he did still wish to put up a good face in the presence of Pyrrha and Kenta Barak; give them an after-action report to show that he was able to pull through and prevail in the battle.

Oh yeah… and make sure Ruby gets credit as well.

Once he got up, he made his way to the front of the destroyed tower. The building had been completely shattered, with the top of the tower blown up until only one third of it remained. The thick column of dark smoke climbed to the skies, joined by countless others caused by the days of battle and occupation. Where there were once sounds of enemies and violence, there was now peaceful silence, accompanied by the low hums of gunships in the air and voices of cheers and clone troopers shouting out to each other; both of which made Jaune feel a lot more relieved from having to hear signals of friendly forces.

As Jaune walked behind her, Ruby spotted the two people she wanted to see after such a long day of insufferable madness. The all-too-familiar figure of authority and overprotectiveness stood alongside the shining figure of heroic glory, the two leading figures of the operations, stood as they were eagerly awaiting her and Jaune.

The Jedi Master naturally came over to his former Padawan. Much to Ruby's surprise, he didn't seem too worried or even judgemental over what felt like a considerable amount of time since they left the base. She expected him to criticize her slow progress on the mission, give her a small lecture on how to be a little faster with her work as always. Alas, no words of wisdom from the Master.

All the same, she felt happy that she was able to reunite with him with a victory added to her record.

"I was starting to get worried." said Kenta, arms crossed together.

"Come on, Kenta. You knew I was going to make it." laughed Ruby, habitually trying to make a good impression on her former Master.

"Oh, I was. But I wasn't sure you were going to make it back with a victory." Kenta fired back with a smirk, immediately shattering Ruby's confident stance.

"You can be such a jerk sometimes, you know that?" groaned Ruby with a pout. There were times he could be like a strict quartermaster, but then there were moments where he'd take great pleasure in teasing her. Kenta's smile persisted, taking in the joy of making fun of the girl.

Before she could rant on, Ruby was suddenly distracted by the sweet sounds of astromech beeping. Running past Kenta, she ran towards the approaching droid and embraced the ol' bucket of bolts that played a small part in the infiltration of the city.

"Great work, Zee." she praised, causing Zee to chirp approvingly. "A nice old bath awaits you at the Temple."

Watching the young Jedi being a little kid made Kenta feel a little easy. Just seeing Ruby being so happy after a tumultuous mission was admittedly soothing. After all she must have gone through with Jaune, it was refreshing to see her childlike innocence return; a statement he never thought he'd have in his mind.

However, he couldn't deny it. Every time Ruby was out on her own, he had a good reason to be worried. The tendency to develop concern was there, as any Master would feel towards a student barely ready to venture on her own. From now on, he had to try and keep a closer eye on her before she would go and do something crazy all by herself.

Then again, perhaps she didn't have to do crazy things on her own for long.

As Ruby was tending to Zee, Jaune came over to Pyrrha, who, despite seeming proud and unshaken as always, had been a little more worried than she wanted to admit. She was thankful that he had survived the whole ordeal and was praying gratefully to the Force that he had been spared. However, she was more than a little jittery when his lively presence was in jeopardy after a long absence.

A feeling she hadn't felt in a long time…

"Good work, Jaune." she praised, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks." said Jaune, sheepishly chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head. He saw the Jedi coming towards and decided to make sure Ruby is still on his good side. "But it was all Ruby's doing, really."

"Nonsense! You did great out there!" As Ruby laughed at Jaune's praise, she began to realize that she was going a little soft. Reminding herself that he was still far from the professional soldier, she shifted her attitude back to maintain her authority over him. "I mean, for a shiny."

"You look a little shaken, Jaune. Might if I take a look at your health?" Kenta offered. Jaune and Ruby looked puzzled at the sudden request; Ruby especially not expecting her Master to offer medical assistance as that was not his main expertise. Regardless, that didn't stop Jaune from taking up on the request.

"Uh… sure."

As Kenta took the boy with him, he gave Pyrrha a knowing nod. The commander nodded back, acknowledging what the Jedi had in mind. While the men walked away, she then tended to Ruby, smiling warmly at the youthful knight.

"Thank you, Ruby." she said.

"Ah! It's no biggie! Saving the city and all!" Ruby laughed, her body swaying around bashfully after taking in the pride of hearing Pyrrha giving her a compliment for saving an entire city of people.

"I mean for giving Jaune a chance." corrected Pyrrha, putting Ruby's happy trance to a halt after realizing the real cause for the compliment. Not much of a reason to celebrate, but she supposed it was worth it.

"Oh, yeah! That, too."

In the meantime, Kenta led Jaune to their own free space, wanting to give him the rewarding piece of complimentary praise the boy deserved. The Jedi could feel the pain and hinderance suffered upon Jaune's body, sensing the nausea suffered after being shot from all sides the whole day. Or maybe the constant bossy treatment of Ruby Rose could have also jogged a bit of stress into him, if her attitude was anything to go by.

"See? What did I tell 'ya?" he joked as he patted Jaune at the back. "Ruby will come through when you've got the words to shut her up."

"It wasn't really just my words, General." chuckled Jaune. "It was… kind of a mutual effort."

"But you still punched up and told her as it is, right?" assured Kenta. Nodding his head, Jaune felt a brief sense of pride, thinking that he had actually managed to talk it down to a Jedi Knight. "Continue to practice your teamwork with her. You two will be working together a lot more from now on."

"Yes, sir." acknowledged Jaune.

Moments after the group had gotten themselves refreshed with each other's company, they all gathered with Carolina, who had just finished sweeping up a droid garrison in a nearby apartment. The clone had his hand on the side of his helmet, immediately confirming that he was in the middle of a call. Just as they approached him, he had put his hand down as he ended the call. The commander was alerted to the arrival of the group, turning to them with news to report.

"I just received word from Admiral Leeck. The Separatists are pulling out of the system." confirmed the clone.

"Then, we've managed to get our early victory, after all." commented Kenta.

"Let's head back to the ship. Brogundi is ours." said Pyrrha, signalling for Carolina and Jaune to follow her. Just as the latter was about to join her, he was suddenly greeted with a punch to the stomach by the cyan-coloured clone.

"Ow!" squealed Jaune, grabbing his stomach in response. "What was that for, Carolina?"

"Let's see. One, for ruining the element of surprise, and two, for blowing up the tower. You were sloppy, kiddo." stated Carolina mockingly as he walked away. Rubbing on the spot of his pain, Jaune took a while to recuperate. His encounter hadn't exactly gone unnoticed, however. As if he needed another person to poke fun at his misery, in came the next individual he didn't want to have laughing at him.

"I like him." said Ruby with a smirk.

"Of course, you do." sighed Jaune. "It's not like I totally screwed up, right?"

"Yeah… Keep telling yourself that the next time you slip and fall." Ruby continued to make Jaune her target of ridicule. But before he could moan in frustration, she had to let some truth out. He did manage to help out with a victory in the end. Not to mention that he was right about being a team; something she felt she had to get used to, now that there were more people to work with.

"For what is worth, you do have guts." she said, unexpectedly sounding a little too gentle for her liking. "I guess you'll be a proud addition to the team."

"For real?" Jaune couldn't really believe the tone she was giving. Probably, he wasn't used to seeing a rambunctious, trigger-happy Jedi acting so humble and gentle towards him. Though, after what Kenta had told him, maybe it was possible to actually get on her good book.

"I gotta give you a shot, right?" said Ruby as she nudged Jaune by the shoulder.

"Right."

With the mission over and a much-needed rest awaiting them, Ruby and Jaune decided to finally have some fun, with the two now heading for the Sanctum's Pride. The young Jedi was really hoping to see the mighty ship for herself, overly excited over the marvel that she had seen only in the hangar of a destroyer.

"So, on a scale from one to ten, how much of a soldier was I?" asked Jaune.

"Would you accept a negative value?" Ruby shot back with a snarky grin.

"Come on! I just drove a freaking tank!"

"Yeah, well that hardly impresses me."

And so, the banter went on and on, completing the tumultuous day as the city of Hefrom settled down from the horrid days of war.

The battle may had been over, but the war had just begun. What followed was a new partnership that was bound to shake things up for the conflict moving forward. Ruby and Jaune may have had differing ideals and opinions, but as long as the war threatened to tear the galaxy apart, they had to be reminded that only through their unity could they prevail.

Reviews

Guest #1

Thanks man, but unfortunately, this dire situation is going to be even direr on my work. Hence, the appallingly long delay on this story. Let us pray to the Force that we will get out of this!

ayad.t.h

Thanks so much! Hope I haven't lost my touch on this :)

Guest #2

I'm quite happy you've been following the chapter's plot so far! That was a really long chapter to write and I'm glad I've stuck the landing on it, so thanks for the feedback!

NRF

Hmmm, getting to Order 66 I see? Pfft! Like I will reach that point…

Right…?

Guest #3

Given it has been a year since I last uploaded, I'm pretty sure we don't need a spoiler warning XD But yes, those episodes were among the best I've ever watched of the Clone Wars. As for you and NRF's thoughts on the future, we shall see ;)

Dragonwolf Writer

Hey! Thank you for reading the story from start to 'finish'! Hope I haven't kept you waiting for so long T.T

KBloom

No worries! I'm here now!

Also, thank you to everyone for following and liking the story! Once again, I am very sorry for the long upload. Hopefully, I will be able to get back to speed and start continuing the story and give you guys at least one good season to finish!