Rex declares that the Zygerrians will begin killing slaves as soon as they realize they are under attack, which is why the Resolute II exits hyperspace dangerously close to the planet on which they've discovered a Zygerrian processing facility. This is an agricultural facility, unlike Kadavo, which had focused on processing raw minerals.
All three flight units are prepped and ready to go as soon as the ship settles into realspace. Anakin leads Gold Squadron as they exit the flight deck and shoot towards the processing facility hovering thousands of feet above the ground. Rex's voice crackles through Anakin's comm. "They're hailing us, General."
"Do not respond," Anakin says. With luck, they'll waste time and energy trying to contact them before they start killing slaves. He sees the other squadrons in his periferal, all making for the facility below. He's been able to see it, as a tiny dot above the yellow-green of the planet's surface, since he took off, but now, as he adjusts his fighter for atmospheric flight, it's starting to take shape, looking much like the facility on Kadavo had.
"Planetary scan complete," comes a clone's voice. "Most life forms are concentrated in this facility."
"Good," Anakin says.
"Jam all communications out of the system," Rex supplies.
"Already done," comes the reply.
The first blasts of defensive laserfire streak towards Anakin, and he twists his fighter to evade it. Behind him, his squadron follows his example and Artoo beeps excitedly. "We'll be fine," Anakin tells him, even as a group of Zygerrian fighters take off to meet them. Anakin isn't worried about the fighters; they go down just like any other ship. It's the towers that concern him, four of them looming over the four sides of the facility, just as they had on Kadavo. And as he comes within range and takes the first shot at the towers, his other fear is confirmed; just as they had been on Kadavo, these towers are ray shielded.
"The towers are ray shielded," he tells the other fighters.
"None of our fighters have enough firepower to penetrate ray shields!" says Gold Five.
"You worry about those fighters," Anakin says, twisting his fighter into a spin as a Zygerrian fighter takes a shot at him. "I'll worry about the towers."
Artoo beeps inquisitively. "Don't worry about it. Just get ready to eject," Anakin says. The responding beeps carry heavy disapproval and Anakin cracks a smile. Truth be told, he wouldn't normally even consider this, but speed is of the essence. He twists around, mostly ignoring the Zygerrian fighter behind him, and lines the nose of his fighter up with the closest tower. "Divert all power to the engines," he says, and then dips into the Force, listening for the whispered warnings that tell him exactly where the deadly lasers are and which way to twist the fighter to avoid them. His fighter closes on the tower, which begins to turn towards him too late, and at the last possible second Anakin shouts, "Now!" and yanks his emergency ejection lever.
The ray shields are tuned to detect incoming laser bolts and activate to absorb them. An incoming fighter doesn't trigger the security system, and the top of the tower collapses under the impact and then explodes along with the fighter. Anakin senses this, more than sees it. He'd used the Force to propel himself away from his fighter's seat before the automated safety system activated, concealing it in a shielded bubble. So close to the facility, he doesn't need it, instead reaching out with the force to straighten himself and cusion his fall. Above him, his ejected seat is eradicated by offensive fire. A clone closes in after the Zygerrian fighter and takes it out with two quick, precise shots to the engines.
"General?" a voice crackles across his comm.
Anakin gets to his feet, glancing around to locate Artoo, who has activated his repulsors and is slowly coming down to land nearby. "I'm on the facility," Anakin says. "The south tower's out of commission; start bringing in the gunships."
Anakin activates his lightsaber as the Zygerrian guards on the platform turn toward him. With grim satisfaction he deflects their blasterfire, taking down most of them with quick, clean Form V Shien. The last two are between him and the west tower, and these he takes down with two lightning fast strikes as he runs toward them, killing both before they realize their danger.
He flings himself to the top of the west tower and opens the top hatch. Same as last time, the Zygerrians inside are unprepared and he kills both and then takes control of the tower, destroying the remaining two. "Towers are down," he says. "Gunships can land. I'm going to find the slaves."
Acknowledgement crackles over the comms as Anakin swipes his lightsaber through the tower's controls so it can't be turned against them and then climbs out and throws himself to the platform below. He runs for the nearest door, where he finds R2-D2 plugged into a computer terminal. Artoo beeps at him as he approaches. Anakin doesn't waste any time, igniting his lightsaber and plunging it into the door. "Where are the slaves?" Anakin asks, and Artoo warbles out a reply.
Anakin is mostly through the door when the screen beside him flickers to life and the face of a Zygerrian appears on it. "Jedi," the Zygerrian spits. "If you do not recall your forces immediately all the slaves will be terminated."
The scene is laughably familiar, and Anakin doesn't even stop cutting through the door as he replies, "I'll make you regret every slave you kill when I get in there, scum."
The Zygerrian pulls back and a Twi'lek boy is revealed, hands cuffed in front of him, dressed in ragged clothes and shaking with fear. There's a guard behind him, holding a rifle to the child's head. There's fear in the slave master's voice; flat refusal, apparently, was not a response he expected. "Can you really handle this child's death on your conscience?"
Anakin doesn't reply. He Force-shoves the circle he's cut out of the door inwards and leaps through. This facility seems to follow the same layout as the Kadavo one and he's close to the command center. He rounds one corner, then the second, and he sees the command center's door is wide open. It starts to close as someone inside sees him coming, but he puts on a burst of speed and dives through the panels before they lock. He comes out of a roll already swinging and the guard threatening the child is the first to die. The kid screams and covers his head as the lightsaber sweeps by, but Anakin has already moved on and is making short work of the other Zygerrians. The slave master has lunged for a control panel and is starting to type something into it, but Anakin doesn't let him finish. He's on the other side of the room, but he raises his free hand and clenches his fist and the Zygerrian stumbles backwards, gasping for breath and scrabbling at his own throat.
Anakin flings him against the wall and then turns back to the door, which has opened to reveal a few guards. He flings their own blaster bolts back at them and then turns to the slave master, who is clutching his side and gasping for breath.
He looks up at Anakin, almost ferally pleased. "It is good to see the Jedi have given up their weak, peace-loving ways," he snarls.
"Guess you missed the memo," Anakin replies. "I'm not a Jedi anymore."
"Yes, you are," the Zygerrian snarls. "You're more a Jedi than the fools in your Temple. The Jedi our empire swore vengeance on were like you. Willing to kill for their beliefs. And it is your -"
Anakin uses the Force to yank the slave master toward him and impales him on his lightsaber's shining blue blade.
He extinguishes his lightsaber, dropping the Zygerrian's body, and turns to the slave boy, who is staring at him with wide, terrified eyes. "Where are the rest of the slaves?" Anakin asks.
The boy doesn't answer and it occurs to Anakin that perhaps he doesn't speak Basic. Anakin's Twi'leki is rough, and, laking lekku, he can't communicate a lot of intangible ideas. He knows enough to ask the boy where his people are, though, and the boy cautiously points down the hall and then takes off. Anakin follows, and the two of them meet R2-D2 at the nearest junction, beeping indignantly at being left behind. A gunship's worth of clones are following him. "What's going on out there?" Anakin asks.
"A few enemy fighters are still flying," a clone reports. "We've established a landing zone and are clearing as much of the facility as we can."
Anakin nods. "Stick close. The kid's taking me to the rest of the slaves and it'd be nice to have an escort."
"Yes, sir!" the clone says, saluting quickly and signalling his men to follow. The little group makes its way down the hall and the boy eventually leads them to a door, which he points at wordlessly before scrambling behind Artoo, who whistles opinionatedly. Anakin examines the door controls; it isn't locked from this side. He suspects that there simply isn't an opening mechanism on the other side.
The room is large and empty, just a floor and four walls, and it's full of very much alive slaves. It's a relief; Anakin remembers all too well the way Keeper Argus had tried to kill all of the Togruta people on Kadavo. Most of them are Twi'leks, but a few other species are mixed in, and all eye Anakin and the clones with weary suspicion. Anakin sympathises; they have no way of knowing if their new situation will be better than their old.
The little boy runs into the room toward a Twi'lek woman, who catches him and picks him up. He says something quickly, waving an arm at Anakin, and the woman looks at him with something approaching hope in her eyes. Anakin steps forward. "Are any of you seriously injured?" he asks.
"No," the woman says decisively. "We want to leave."
Anakin nods and activates his comm. "Are we clear to bring in the Resolute to pick up the slaves?" he asks.
"Bringing it in now," Rex confirms. "West landing platform."
"Copy that," Anakin says. He turns to the troopers with him. "Let's start clearing a path out there." The troops fan out as Anakin turns to the slaves. "Alright, people, form a group. Keep your children and injured in the middle and follow our lead."
They follow, a few somewhat reluctantly, but all in agreement that their situation can't possibly get worse. Anakin takes point, lightsaber in hand but unignited. The troops have cleared the area with their usual efficient effectiveness. They encounter no guards inside the facility, and once they exit it and reach the platform, the only Zygerrians in sight are yards away, fighting in small groups. They stand no chance of success, however; some of them have rifles but most are armed only with energy whips that stand no chance against the practical blasters and rifles that the clone troopers carry.
The Resolute II approaches, slowly rotating into position as it docks at the landing platform. The clones usher the slaves forward as the boarding ramp begins to lower.
Anakin activates his comm. "Be ready to blow this place to hell on my signal, Rex," he says.
"Copy that," Rex says. Anakin glances around. He sees no guards, and there are clones stationed strategically around the rather large group of slaves as they start to move into the cruiser. He turns and runs back into the command center. They'd dumped their long-distance holorecievers with the tracking beacons; it wasn't their primary purpose, but Republic-issue holorecievers could easily be traced with the proper equipment; it was another safety measure to keep cruisers from being stolen. The Zygerrian holoreciever isn't meant to be removed from the command center, but Anakin doesn't need all of it. He uses the Force to pry open a panel and dig through the wires until he finds the long-distance holoreciever component. It looks compatible, and if it isn't he's confident he can make it compatible. Clutching the device in his hand, he turns and leaves the command center, paying no mind to the bodies he'd left lying on the floor before.
The now-former slaves are almost all onto the ship when he returns to the landing platform. There are a few new Zygerrian bodies lying on the ground nearby. Anakin follows as the clones start to retreat up the ramp, still guarding against any surprise attacks.
The last being crosses the threshold and Anakin activates his comm as the boarding ramp begins to retract behind him. "Is everyone accounted for?"
The soundoff that follows doesn't take long. "Accounted for" doesn't mean dead or alive. It means they aren't leaving anyone behind, and in this case it's a series of affirmatives from squad leaders and leuitenants.
"Let's get out of here," Anakin says, and he doesn't look back as the cruiser pulls away from the facility. But he senses in the Force the moment the turbolasers connect with one of the facility's essential repulsorlifts, sending it spiraling toward the ground below.
So based on various comments and PMs I got since I posted the last chapter, it seems like I'm gonna need to elaborate a little bit on Padmé's pregnancy. I say she didn't receive prenatal care in canon because at the end of RotS she was 7~9 months pregnant and didn't realize she was carrying twins. It's really easy to tell when you are carrying twins, due to there being up to twice as much baby as expected inside your body. This becomes obvious really early, often before two months. There are occasions when it's not obvious, but this is usually tied to one of several possible health issues with the babies or mother, and canonically none of those issues were present with Padmé and her children. I can justify Padmé and Anakin not knowing they were having twins; it was after all, their first, and they had no idea what to look for. But an actual obstetrician? No. There's no possible way Padmé received prenatal care, or if she did, it was from an absolute quack.
Anyway, on to this chapter. I don't have a ton to say about it. It was rough; I had to rewrite about two pages of it a couple of times and I cut out about a page's worth, but I think I stitched the ends together well. First action-heavy chapter. I have a bit of trouble describing action so that's probably partially why.
I knew when I decided to write this that sooner or later I would have to write Anakin violently murdering someone or other in cold blood, but that didn't make it significantly easier to write. Helps that this guy pretty much deserves whatever he gets.
At one point I was sitting in a café writing and I pulled up Escape from Kadavo on Netflix for reference and some guy told me not to watch porn in public so uh. Yeah.