Anakin POV
I got into my Starfighter and I went through the safety check, and saw that I had my blue astromech R4-G5 in his space right beside the cockpit.
"You ready for this R4?" I asked.
A happy whistle came my response, and started talking about how I blew up the control ship on Naboo from the inside.
I smiled. "It's not going to be that easy buddy," I said. I started the engines, and pulled out into space. Soon, I was surrounded by my squadron, and I became very focused on the task at hand. "Blue Squadron, come in."
As all of the boys checked in, I was formulating my plan in my head. "Alright," I said when they finished, "our plan is simple. We want to draw out as many fighters of theirs as possible and inflict as much damage as possible. This is a good old fashioned dogfight, so keep your wits about you."
"Yes General," said Blue One, Blades.
"General, can Palpatine get to us from up here?" asked Blue Five, Beetle.
"Let's hope not," I muttered. "No Beetle," I said loudly into the headset. "You focus on taking out as many of there fighters as possible. The dark side can't get to you from up here."
I felt several of the men relax as I said that. I remembered that Rex had said how he wanted my job, and realize that most of the men would rather be home with their wives and children enjoying the afterlife, not chasing the Sith. I thought about the fact that I could be home drinking hot tea with Padme, and picking out baby room furniture for the children.
Suddenly, I saw enemy fighters fly out of the hangers of the ships and approach us. I shook my head and focused on destroying things. I was good at that.
"Alright men," I said. "Look alive. Here they come."
"There are so many of them!" cried Bif, a young clone.
"That's okay. There's plenty of us," I said. "Now form up on me."
All of the ships formed up in a V-formation with me leading the way as we went to meet the incoming fighters. It occurred to me as Yoda would tell me to release my squadron into the Force and come to realize that I could not control their fates. They could not die, but they could feel pain if they crashed and had to regenerate on Kamino. I took a deep breath and realized that I could not save them all, but I could save the majority of them, if it was the will of the Force. I released my comrades into the Force and accepted that I was not master of their fate. The task was still difficult for me, but it had gotten easier because of sessions with Depa. The thought occurred to me that she would also want me to let go of my hatred and resentment towards Palpatine, but hey, Rome was not built in a day.
"Incoming fighters," said Sok.
"Invasive action," I barked. "Let them have it, boys."
We all flew off into separate places, dodging enemy fire and trying to return fire at the same time. I sent my ship into a fast corkscrew trying to dodge fire. I ended up behind one of the pilots firing at us, and I let him have it. I was rewarded with a toot from R4 saying that I hit him. A grin spread across my face, but I knew we could not relax.
"Zai, you got one on your tail!" said Beetle.
"I know! I can't shake him!"
I scanned the battlefield and saw Zai being followed by one of their ships. "Hang on, Zai. Bank left hard towards the main cruiser."
Zai followed my orders, and I flew up and to the right directly into the enemies face and fired. The ship exploded, and I rushed through the flames victorious.
"Thanks General," said Zai.
"No problem."
"These droids are smarter than I remember," he said.
"That is because these are lifeforms," I said.
"What?!" said Beetle. "These are brothers?!"
"Possibly. They could be clones. I can not tell if they are from Kamino or not," I said.
"We can't be killing our own kind!" he cried.
Worry flooded into my mind. This was a problem I did not prepare for. The clones were not genetically modified to be docile and take orders, because dying had made them a blank slate. I could have a revolt on my hands if I did not act quickly.
"It does not matter," Blades said in an authoritative commanding tone. "These men have chosen to serve Palpatine and that makes them the enemy. We are not killing them anyway because they can regenerate. We are simply removing them from the opportunity to help Palpatine. Brothers or not, when they regenerate they will have a choice to rejoin the Republic. Now do your job, Mutts! Shoot them down!"
"Yes, Sir!" came a chorus of men.
I smiled and breathed a sigh a relief. Switching to private comms, I signaled Blades and said, "I owe you a steak dinner, we could have lost our whole squadron."
"Actually, General, Rex gave me that speech when I almost refused to fight against Palpatine's clones. He has a good sense of right and wrong."
"Yeah, he does." I switched back to main comms and said, "Okay, men, you heard him. We have a job to do. Now let's get it done!"