A/N: I'm so sorry that this took so long! I've been so busy this semester and finals had my time packed. The next chapter shouldn't take as long. Also, I know this chapter is long but there are some small details that will become important later. I hope that you enjoy!

Chapter Eight

By the time Ana had made it over to the other side of the hole in the mountain her arms and shoulders were more than sore. She was relieved to have a break when she saw the next hole in the side, knowing that she had finally made her way around the outer side of the mountain to the other side. She checked her compass just to be sure so that she wouldn't get her hopes up, but it was the co-ordinates that Obi-Wan sent her where Master Mundi was waiting with his own small team before more reinforcements came in, which would be ready on her signal that the bombs were set.

She was starting to wonder if this was a good idea. She had been moving in the uncomfortable position for so long that her shoulders were screaming at her from pain. It was a bit louder than the pain in her arms, where the dirt rubbed the skin raw and after hours of moving along the sand and dirt she was starting to bleed. She could feel the sand moving through her wounds and she knew that at the end of this she would need a bacta patch. But it was too late to go back. The others were waiting on her and this was her plan. So she would shed a little blood and have scrapped arms.

Looking down through the hole, she is sure that she was a sight for sore eyes, but she couldn't focus on that. She felt her hair fall over her shoulder and saw the Jedi Master and about fifteen clones below with a backpack in the Master's hand. Using the Force, Master Mundi pushed the bag up to her and Ana caught it, moving to pull it over her shoulder.

Obi-Wan already has you doing the dirty work and you haven't even been with him for a week?

Ana smiled and signed back to him as she finished putting the pack over her shoulders. She leaned out a bit again and signed back.

Well I technically volunteered for this so this is all on me.

Master Mundi smiled and gave her a nod and Ana gave him a nod of confirmation back before she moved backwards in the tunnel. She carefully moved herself, moving into uncomfortable arches as she leaned up against the side of the tunnels, moving and wiggling until she was on her stomach again, facing the other side.

It was then she realized that the pack was also moving against the top of the tunnel and that it would be more than hard to get them out. So the next trick was to get the backpack off, which she did after a couple of minutes. She tied one string of the pack to her wrist before pushing it forward as she moved, her shoulders screaming again as they ached.

She tried to remember the layout in her head that she had made as she was moving around in the tunnels. She tried to create a mental map as accurately as she could from memory so that she would know where to go, where was too close, and what was right under the battldroids that were above the ground. She had people waiting on her and as she moved, she needed to decide quickly about where to go. She could circle around the edge of the Separatist groups and then move in more to the centre before finally cutting across back to Obi-Wan. It was a rather large pack, but she needed to plan ahead about how to space them. The idea was more in the centre, less at the edges, but she needed to plan just how apart on the edges they were.

As she moved, she made the calculations in her head, trying to estimate range she was going to go through. It would have been nice to know how many bombs she had to plan, but she would have to make do. She would make a guess than lower the number. It would be better to have extras for the middle since that's where most of them would be in the perimeter. She would have to make sure she didn't completely destabilize the mountain either. That would lead to more problems.

She started to wonder if she was overthinking everything.

And then there was the question that she didn't want to ask. She felt her chest suddenly feel thick and hard as she thought about the next part of the plan that she hadn't thought of until she was dragging the pack, the weight of the bombs suddenly coming to a weight in her chest as she realized that she had no idea how to set one of these bombs. She had read some information about them, but she hadn't exactly thought to read the GAR books that would list things to do, or even differences between bombs so that they were set properly. But it was information that was president for her to know. She knew she could ask Obi-Wan, but she didn't know how well that would go either. A Padawan with a plan above her own knowledge. If the clones noticed that she just jumped in then it could be a bad relationship. They wouldn't trust her. She may have just gotten started in this war literally hours ago, but she understood some dynamics of it really well. You needed to trust your superiors that they knew what they were doing. She didn't want to start off on a note like that.

But what else could she do? There were very limited options and she rathered that someone things she is in over her head than to be blown up because she set a bomb wrong. She could ask Obi-Wan and Cody for help later, or at least direct her to instruction manuals to read.

She looked down at her wrist and pressed the com-unit's button to start a connection to Obi-Wan as she stopped. A couple of seconds later, a holo-image of her Master standing beside Cody, Peg, and Boil.

"I got the bombs from Master Mundi," Ana reported, her eyes moving to look at the pack once more before they went back to her Master.

Obi-Wan nodded and gave the com to Cody to hold so he could use both hands to sign. The redhead watched her master intently.

"These ones set off with a detonator so you don't need to worry about accidentally brushing it and setting it off," Obi-Wan explained, both talking and slowly signing. Well, that was a relief. She liked to think she was skilled, but she would rather not get blown up underground on her first mission.

As he talked, she took out a bomb. The cold metal ball felt heavier than she thought it would in her hand. As a group they didn't seem so bad, but individually she could see how they made the weight in the pack.

"You should see a red glass circle. On the other side you can set the bomb to the side or top of the tunnel and it will stay. Give it a small push and it will set up them up to turn on. By then, you should see a red blinking light from the glass," Obi-Wan explained slowly so she could understand each step. "When you see the blinking, they are set. They have been set to a detonator Cody has through code. We'll monitor how many bombs are set."

Ana nodded and never felt so relieved. She knew it was practical for Obi-Wan to tell her how to set the bombs, but she still felt relieved nonetheless that he told her what to do without her needing to ask. It was a relief that she didn't particularly look so clueless. She would definitely need to remember to ask Cody how all of the weapons worked before the next mission. She mentally scolded herself for not doing it before when she was with Radar and Cody.

"Will do. I'll contact you soon," Ana answered him.

Obi-Wan nodded.

"Good luck," Obi-Wan answered.

Ana only gave him another nod before his image disappeared. She regarded the bomb again moving it over in her hand before looking above her. Following Obi-Wan's instructions, she placed the opposite side of the bomb onto the top. She pushed it and saw how it latched onto the earth, surprisingly. She watched the red light slowly turn on and then started to blink, telling her that it was set when ready to go off. That wasn't too hard, yet somehow it still gave her slight anxiety to make sure she did right. The others were all counting on her. Not to mention they could watch how she was setting the bombs if Cody was monitoring them.

She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. As she thought before, the others were counting on her. She needed to get moving. They wouldn't go unnoticed forever. Ana was already surprised they were still unnoticed.

Moving along the tunnels, Ana tried to move in and around the area in a circle, slowly trying to move in as well. Moving under the droids explicitly was a big harder. They were stored up here, for whatever reason, but some of them were moving. It was distracting to feel the movements under and around her and did nothing to heighten her anxiety. She was just glad she wasn't claustrophobic. Even if she wasn't, she would be glad to get out of the cramped space and into open air again.

Setting the bombs was another time-spending project. She centred around in circles, moving to as close to the centre as possible and setting more of the bombs in the centre area so that they would collapse more, creating a type of black-hole where it was deeper in the centre and harder to get through and over the sides.

Moving out to the outside again, setting the last of the bombs on her way, Ana felt better moving out from under the droid's feet. Setting the last bomb along the stretch, she pressed the com unit to contact Obi-Wan as she kept crawling. She watched his form and Cody's come up and she told him as she kept moving forward, her lower arms screaming and ready to be free from the constant scraping.

"Progress report: bombs are set. I'm on my way back to you," Ana told him, looking down to catch his response.

"Good timing. Mundi says that his support ship has been spotted and question. We may have been caught," Obi-Wan informed, also signing to the best of his ability.

"I'll be on the surface soon. You might have to start moving forward with the assault so we don't waste time," Ana answered.

"Mundi's ground troopers are already on the move here," Obi-Wan explained.

Looking forward, Ana saw a light in the distance from the darkness.

"I'll be at an opening soon. I won't be so close to you, but I'll be out from underground and you can set off the bombs." Ana informed them.

"We'll start to move over the edge and set up the attack as well," Obi-Wan told her.

"I'll meet you in the middle," Ana agreed before Obi-Wan shut off the connection.

Moving forward again, Ana tried to go at a faster pace. She was sure that it wouldn't take long for the clones to get over the edge and when they did, it wouldn't take long for them to get spotted as they set up.

She moved around a small curved corner before spotting the glow of light in front of her. It was not too far now, but it still seemed far. Moving, trying to pull herself by the damaged arms as best as she could, the travel to the opening seemed farther than she originally thought, but she found her eyes slowly adjusting to the new light. As she moved closer, she was starting to feel the separate movements of the clones.

She squinted up at the sun as she finally laid under the whole. When the bright white turned into the light blue sky, she squirmed in the hole to lay on her back. From there, she put her hands forward and gripped the edges of the hole. Pulling herself up, she carefully twisted her neck and head to make sure it didn't hit the top of the tunnel until she moved and it was in the whole. Her eyesight just went over the edge. Looking forward, she saw the droids far away and in a blur, though it still looked like they were moving forward.

Gripping the sides of the hole again, she used her arms to push herself up until her legs could get a good grip on the ground and she could push that way as well. When she was finally up out of the hole enough, she moved to sit herself on the edge until she brought up her legs.

She felt the presence and turned to look up at Obi-Wan as he stood beside her when she brought up her legs. He smiled down at her and offered his hand. Taking it, the two got up and Ana could see the line of clones behind her, the ones from the camp also there as well. Small numbers, but she could already see Mundi coming forward, more clones joining their line as Cody walked up as well.

"You look a little worn," Obi-Wan commented to her.

Ana shrugged, though the small ache came. It was nice to feel the air on her skin again, the wind move through the hair as well as it could through the clumps and matted holds from the dirt. She tested the weight on her legs, feeling them get their strength of balance back when she saw Mundi step on the other side of Obi-Wan.

"I'm guessing that we're about to begin then?" Ana asked, turning over to Cody.

The Masters nodded and Mundi told them, "it is."

Cody nodded once before bringing up the unit at his wrist. He pressed a few buttons before the earth suddenly shook from under her. Ana's legs moved down to brace and hold balance and Ana turned to watch the cloud of dust smother the bronze blurs of the droids. Behind her, the clones kept a stance to get ready for the forward assault as Mundi made a signal to the air forces to get prepared to come down.

It took about a minute, but soon the four saw the movement break the wall of thick dust. And they seemed closer than she thought that they would.

The three Jedi ignited their lightsabers as they unconsciously began to pair up.

Obi-Wan watched Ana carefully as they took steps forward. Her gaze was forward, an expression that showed that she was evaluating the situation in front of her quickly. He knew it was a possibility that in her first field day she would get hands on experience, but he was hoping that it wouldn't lead to anything drastic. This was her first battle and the first time she would be placed in a situation where she had to work with what she had, that she had to use her skills to the best of her ability.

He was just glad that it would be a small battle, that the other side wouldn't have large numbers and that he knew she was aware of her strengths and skills and what she was not. She was a quick learner, she would be aware of how to change and adjust quickly if she needed to. They were just droids. It wasn't as though she was going against a Sith Lord.

She was watchful and calculating the upcoming assault and making sure to know options and different ways to get to the end point she was hoping for; a skill that was an incredible asset in a war and especially for a Commander.

Ana was evaluating, trying to figure the numbers in her head. They had bigger numbers with Master Mundi's troops even if it took them a bit longer for the full small assault to come in. And that was even before the bombs took out a lot of their droid numbers. None of that, though, promised no casualties on their side. There were no certainties in war.

As the droids began to advance Ana felt a gloved hand brush her shoulder. She turned her head, her put-up hair flowing behind her with the help of the wind. She saw Cody beside her and he signed to her are you ready?

She nodded and gave him a reassuring smile and signed back no time like the present.

We'll cover you, he answered her.

Ana nodded again and almost immediately after, there was a sudden gunfire from their row of clones as well as the clones from Mundi's team that came over as Master Mundi and Kenobi commanded the assault on their side to start, the front lines of the fire either standing or kneeling to position their guns towards the battle droids. The air was suddenly filled with a metallic and slightly chemical-like smell as Ana watched the air suddenly fill with blue blaster bolts as they flew through the air and to the droids on the other side. It started the assault and soon, red blaster bolts came back. Immediately after seeing the first shade of red, Ana took her lightsaber and the blue blade glowed in the corner of her eye as she watched the droids that weren't falling to the ground start to advance, her head and shoulder moving as she easily dodged one blaster bolt.

Gripping her lightsaber, she watched Cody on one side of her take out his two blasters and began to fire as well. Ana barely noticed as her knees bent to create a stance as she moved her lightsaber, the blade swinging to deflect the blaster bolts, slowly taking some steps forward with Cody beside her. In the other corner of her eye she saw the motions of a determined Master Kenobi and Master Mundi move out farther than her, already moving to slice through the first lines of battle droids that they could get through.

The Padawan Learner wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting. She didn't know if it would be harder or not in real life, in actual battle. But it was just…different. She hadn't had much battle training, she knew that, but she moved her blade with an elegance of what Obi-Wan tried to tell her. She could see what he was trying to say about making sure that her wrists were loose. It was almost the same as her training she did with Obi-Wan earlier, using her saver to deflect the bolts and even targeting them to hit other droids. The reflected shots weren't as refined in practice, only a couple of them hitting the droids enough to cause them damage and fall. There were more blaster shots, and they came with more speed it seemed, but she was sure that it was because of the heightened tensions she was feeling in the heat of the battle. It was just more bolts than what she had normally practiced with, making her move her blade more. It was harder to think quickly under the pressure to keep her eyes open, continually strategizing to see where she could aim the next bolt to reflect to.

As she moved her blade, conscious of Cody beside her and the other clones behind her to make sure that she kept a good distance from them.

She found herself subconsciously adapting her movements in the battle. She couldn't deflect every blaster bolt, so she learned to move and dodge them gently, only moving her blade to deflect the ones that she couldn't dodge. She also tried to follow Obi-Wan's teaching, relaxing the muscles in her wrists and allowing them to try and flex and move, even slightly unnaturally at first, to give quicker speed. She could see how box-like her movements were. She needed to sway out. The Jedi Masters always told her to move the blade with grace. She had seen all of them with theirs. Even now Mundi and Obi-Wan could move in a jarring cut and piercing movements, it was still with a type of elegance from the power of the blade. She couldn't see the grace of it, but perhaps that's just because she just had to learn to be more proficient in technique.

Ana wasn't sure if she liked being deaf during the battle. In her mind she could think of the negatives and subconsciously thank the positives. She could see the bolts moving around her and it was somewhat jarring to suddenly be around moving objects like that, a tension of battle charging the air in a way she had never experienced before. The air was messy but the Force was precise, solid. But it was still a chaotic mix as she tried to focus on the Force so that it could bring her focus. It was jarring to have so much action happening around her and the air being as tense as it is. She couldn't hear the sounds of the men, if someone was yelling at her, the sounds of the blasters…but perhaps that was also why she was appreciative that she was deaf. She could hear the buzzing in her ears of all the commotion, a knowledge that something was indeed going on. Maybe if she focused enough she could hear the general tone of blasters or maybe the droids moving, but other than that it was mostly background noise. She could focus without all the extra sounds and actions. She couldn't get distracted unless something powerful came by.

She took a couple more steps forward, slowly making her way towards the battle droids. It was to a point in the sun she could see the gleam not just from the sunlight, but the shadow of blue light from her own saber reflect off the metal.

In the corner of her eye she saw a clone fall to the ground. She turned her head to the left, her hair falling behind and it brushed her other shoulder. She noticed a blaster whole in the armour as the clone fell back. She stared at the trooper, feeling within moments that his signature in the Force was suddenly departed, now a part of the air of the Force. She stared at the clone for a couple of moment. He was one from Mundi's main team. She could see the painted armour, the customized and personal identifier of the clone. She had never seen death around her before, not like this.

Ana was brought out of her thoughts when a red blaster shot went through her gaze, just above her nose. She turned and saw the droids advancing, some heading right for her.

Taking more steps forward, Ana moved quick, her blade up and ready to strike and cut.

She watched the battle droids move closer as she took steps forward. She was sure in a split second that she saw her own reflection in the dented and dirty metal before she brought her saber across her an easy swing forward and across at a diagonal horizontal. After the cut, Ana's arms stood still, her chest still slightly heaving from adrenaline as she watched the droid fall into the two parts, both suddenly falling to the ground. As the head hit the ground, some dust flew around the air.

It was weird, for Ana. She had never really sliced through anything with her lightsaber before. She had practice at the Temple but…this was different. She didn't realize just how easily her blade would slice through the droid bodies. No they weren't thick, but she expected even just a little bit of resistance. Even if there was no resistance on the blade, she is sure she felt some type of power surge of slight resistance in her hand. She knew it wasn't real, but it felt like something. She was glad that she couldn't hear the damage.

She forced herself out of her thoughts as she saw the sunlight glimmer on another battle droid. Up close they looked even uglier than she imagined they would. For whatever reason she didn't like the look of their heads.

She swung the blade again, one with easy movement as she moved the blade back to the original position, or close enough to it at least. Her eyesight moved again and she struck the next battle droid that was close enough then turning to get another. She learned to make longer strides in step as she went side to side and when she made her swings so that she was more likely to go through more than one. She kept herself near a central area, watching the droids fall either by her or by the bolts from the clones.

She kept herself tight, making sure there were no openings for blaster fire to hit her as her eyes also kept alert. She would look up, calculating the droids in front of her. The ones with the shields that were coming closer were not going to be easy to get through. Thankfully their tanks seemed to be destroyed. There was no movement from them yet.

But she was calculating which movements to make as she looked around, not just looking at the droids that were coming over now, but also the movements of the droids. Because many had died in the explosion, there was some out of order, more like groups. And Ana knew that she had to move with the groups. She had to plan her movements, which direction that she would go in first before moving, trying to establish a flow of movement from one direction to the next.

Perhaps she was over thinking it.

Maybe it would come more naturally with time.

She didn't know how long she was slicing through droids, her eyes watching the clones around her, Cody keeping to her side, though slightly farther off now. The droid numbers were getting lower, and her mind was tired yet alert, but there was a prickle in the Force as the numbers of Mundi's Forces were coming to mix in with theirs.

In the mix of the battle, the sight of the battle droids coming closer, she felt a sudden pulse of warning in the Force, like a wave of heat coming onto her. It was hard and thick, a warning that something was going to happen, a need to do something.

She looked around, wondering what the warning was for. An enemy ship coming in? A new group of droids that were on their way?

Looking around, frantically, the other soldiers didn't seem to notice. They were too focused on the enemy in the front. She felt their energy, their sight of determination. They seemed calm, for what was going on at least. They didn't know something she didn't. So what was she looking for?

It was a detail, one that she nearly missed.

The metal clutch of a rope-like structure that she had seen Mundi's troopers get up to this side that had it's hold on the edge was starting to slide.

Ana broke into a run, going behind the front line firing squads to get to the side of the cliff. Cody barely noticed her as she moved and the others were too focused on their line of fire.

She was within arms distance when she saw the tension completely break. She pushed herself to move faster, or at least pushing herself forward with her hands diving for the rope.

Everything afterwards was so fast that Ana could barely remember what happened a second after it did. She grasped for the rope, her hands flailing for it until she felt the texture on her hands. She fumbled the rope slightly before getting a solid grip. That was the first part of the task. The second was that she was almost pulled forward, not expecting the sudden weight. There was more than one clone on the rope.

Before she could bulk forward, head first into the dirt and go rolling feet to head before hitting the cliff, she managed to pull back onto the rope and hold herself up with the same strength she had felt herself going forward with the help of the Force. The balancing act wasn't great, but it kept her upright as she felt her feet still sliding, dust and sand from the ground flying up into her face as slid.

She saw the edge coming closer and tried to anchor her feet as much as she could. As much as her boots were meant to grip, the top sand was too loose on the rock. Her eyes searched for something that could anchor her. There was a large rock coming close and near the side. That would give her enough edge.

Ana leaned over and moved her feet sideways as best as she could until she slid into the rock. Her one foot knocked up on the slide at an awkward angle on first connection, but it stalled her sliding enough for her to fix it through gritted teeth from the pain to allow her to anchor her shoes against it. This time, she braced herself for the coming pull of the rope as the sliding would stop. Momentum was not particularly on her side and she almost went forward again, her back almost snapping as she was suddenly brought into an awkward position of standing straight, but still at an angle that was still trying to pull her.

It seemed at the moment that time had stop. She could see clones still firing, some red blaster bolts go by, but her focus was not on them. Instead, her attention was on her grip on the rope and holding herself upright, her ribs seemed to be locked and very tight, making it hard to breath, though she knew that she could only take deep breaths.

Ana growled, breathing deeply and trying to focus as she held the rope in the tightest grip. She could feel the rope tightening around her hand, almost cutting into it already. She kept breathing though, looking at the edge and trying to focus her mind on the balance and strength that would be needed. Slowly, she worked back her one arm, the strain immediate, but she forced herself not to think of it, holding it there and preparing the next brace. The instant her second hand let go she felt the immediate strain of holding the weight on one arm even if it was a second long before the other moved forward and grasped the rope tightly again. The pit in her stomach was getting larger in pain as she held through. She gritted her teeth and looked at the edge. Come on Ana, she thought, you haven't lifted a weight this heavy in the gym but the same practice holds. Pulling the hand back to her side, Ana gritted her teeth as she brought the first hand forward again to meet the second.

The rope inched up slowly until Ana felt herself taking larger reaches. Her breath was hard pants as she felt her shoulders continually scream at her to let go. She felt her upper arms being stretched and the brace of her shoulders in a lock that was aching to be released from the tension. Her brows furrowed and her face contorted in slight pain but most in concentration as she eased in breathing strained breaths.

She felt the Force whisping around her, almost like a light fog, to give her strength. She willed the air to move past from around her to the energies of the soldiers on the rope. She felt three life forces and could almost picture them in her mind before the Force flowed back around her.

She kept inching the rope, eyes focused on the ground until she felt another warning in the Force, the feeling that something was going to invade space. She looked towards the warning and saw a red bolt flying towards her. She quickly ducked, but her footing stumbled slightly and she had to again Force herself back quickly to avoid losing the hold and flying forward again. It was all a delicate balance and unless the soldiers on the rope came up faster, she couldn't focus on two things so easily.

Looking behind her, she saw the clones closest to her, though still a fair amount away.

"Waxer! Crys! Disc!" Ana called to them.

She watched the three helmets turned towards her. Quickly, they moved, also being aware of where they were. When they were close enough, Ana explained to them, "I need you to cover me."

There was a nod and while Crys and Disc moved for the cover, Waxer was still turned to her and he carefully moved his own gun and in pure surprise, she watched him move his hands.

'What' 'many'

She was shocked for a couple of seconds. Cody was the only clone, as she understood, who knew sign language. Waxer must have been watching their interactions closely the night before. Sure he got one sign wrong, but it was a try to communicate when he couldn't take off his helmet. It was a try to communicate through her language.

Quickly moving out of it, she nodded and answered him, sensing the other soldiers start to move up the rope: "3."

She watched as he moved to grab the rope as well, but she shook her head.

"I'd rather you go to the edge and help them up," she told him.

He nodded and she watched him quickly move to the edge. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the image of the troopers. One of them was close to the top.

Focusing on her strength again, Ana pulled the rope again, reaching forward to bring the rope back.

She kept pulling back until she felt a clip of something stopping the pull. Opening her eyes, she saw Waxer starting to pull the first trooper up. She held the rope steady for him to come up. Watching the first trooper make it over the edge, Ana forced herself to bring the rope up more, pushing past the screaming ache in her shoulders. She clenched her teeth and pulled up again, the first clone getting up to help her pull as well. It was a bit of relief to Ana's pull. She was thankful to be able to use the Force to help, but extra help was still better than nothing and she could note the difference.

Both her and the other clone helped to pull the rope and through gritted teeth. She watched Waxer help the second clone up and she felt more relief in her shoulders from the second weight being gone. The second clone grabbed the rope as well. The three of them easily pull on the rope, the stress and tension in her shoulders deflating into an after-ache, but she ignored that as well. Bringing up the last clone trooper was the easiest and when she watched the last clone safely come over the edge, she let out a sig of relief, dropping the rope and letting her shoulders relax. As her shoulders dropped, that only seemed to make the ache worse. She turned to look to Disc and Crys when she saw a helmet turn. Disc turned his head to look at her and she gave him a small smile before noticing a bolt about to hit.

"Disc go right!" she told him, quickly taking off his arm and pulling him as she moved to dodge the bullet as well.

The clone looked behind him after the bolt shot past and although Ana didn't hear the thank you, she hopefully assumed before turning to see the advancing droids. She looked to the right and saw the line of clones still fighting, many on the ground. A valiant fight so far, but they were losing numbers too.

As she ignited her lightsaber again to deflect another blaster, hitting another droid and she watched it fall before noticing movement towards her in the corner of her eye. Looking to the side again, she sees Cody making his way slowly towards her, keeping aware of what was around him as well as the other clones formed around her slightly on the other side, taking stances to shoot as well.

"Are the rest of Mundi's trips coming in soon?" the Jedi asked Cody.

Cody signed to her, any moment. They just entered the atmosphere.

Even as she signed she could feel the new energy of the oncoming storm of the rest of the troops. Mundi's fighters wouldn't take too long.

Ana looked over closer to see Obi-Wan and Mundi still fighting. Ana looked in front of her and saw the still advancing droids. The sooner the better.

Ana went into another defines position, moving her blade as she felt the energy of the Republic fighters coming closer. She watched one of Mundi's troops that she helped up fall to the ground, his armour still steaming from the blaster bolt that hit him in the stomach. She winced slightly. She had tried.

Before she could bring back her focus, there was a sudden shaking in the ground and the noise of vibrations and ringing of a blast in her ears. The quake was nowhere near as powerful as the blasts from the bombs, but it was a fierce greeting of the new fighters.

Ana turned her attention to the sky as she watched six fighters fly through the air, the ground shaking with more blasters coming from the fighters as they attack the droids, bringing them down in large numbers.

The clones around her took the Padawan's attention again as some of the ones standing lifted their fists in cheer. Ana couldn't help but smile at the new energy, the feeling of celebration that she forgot the other clone for a brief moment. She had tried.

~.~

Ana walked with Obi-Wan while Master Mundi walked on the other side of Obi-Wan. She tried to keep herself at an angle to be able to see the Jedi Master's faces as they talked. Mundi also tried to curve himself as well so that Ana could see him better.

"This was a worthwhile trip," Mundi concluded.

"I have to agree. While we do not have all the pieces, there is definitely something to investigate," Obi-Wan agreed.

Mundi smiled and nodded to the two, "yes and thanks to you two this early investigation went well. I will take over from here. Thank you for your help."

Obi-Wan nodded and offered a smile. Ana only hoped that her's also came as well. She wasn't expecting that Master Mundi to suddenly take over. Did she do something wrong? Was the mission taken from Obi-Wan because of her and the Council thought it was better to pass the mission to someone else; someone more capable. It felt as though all the pride she had gained suddenly drained out of her, like someone turned on a faucet.

In her thoughts, Ana missed the last words Master Mundi said, but her attention came back when he gave a final wave. Ana nodded and gave one last smile to Master Mundi as he turned to face her and give her a last smile as well. When he was done, he turned and walked away. Ana watched as his head turned to talk to the Captain. With every step that the Jedi Master took as he walked away, Ana felt her smile start to fade as a sinking feeling of slight shame waltzed through her chest.

Obi-Wan took notice of his Padawan's sudden change of emotions and his own brows furrowed as he turned to look fully at Ana. He waved his hand lightly to catch Ana's attention. Almost immediately, Ana's gaze moved to the moving hand and she turned to face Obi-Wan.

"Is there something wrong, Ana?" Obi-Wan asked. "You did quite well."

Ana stared at him for a couple of seconds before she shrugged and admitted to him, "I don't know, Master. But…I…"

She tried to find the words as Obi-Wan waited patiently for her. After a couple of seconds as Ana stuttered a little, she finally stopped and sighed.

"I'm sorry if I did things wrong," Ana told him.

With his brows furrowing even more, Obi-Wan looked down at her, troubled and curious.

"What could you possibly be sorry for Ana?" Obi-Wan asked her, genuinely surprised to hear something like this.

"Well…"Ana shrugged. "I thought that Mundi taking over was kind of a way to tell us that we didn't exactly do a good job, or specifically me since I was the one who was new and didn't exactly know what I was doing and that he needed to take over."

That was it?

Obi-Wan had to do all he can not to chuckle because he knows that will hurt more. But he can't stop a soft smile. He shakes his hand and tells her, "no, Ana. This was always meant to be for Master Mundi. We were just the quick eyes. If we had something to report, Master Mundi was always meant to take over from us."

Ana watches his mouth carefully to make sure that she can understand all that he is saying. When he is done, she feels…weird. Like her feelings were slowly being uncovered and reassurance started to fill her.

"Really?" she asked, wanting confirmation.

Obi-Wan nodded, his smile starting to grow as the edges of her lips started to tug up into a small smile.

"Yes," Obi-Wan promised her before he told her in a comforting tone, hoping that it would transfer even if she didn't hear it, "Ana, you did remarkably well for your first field mission. You were watchful and thoughtful of what you did both for planning, executing, and during the actual battle that we did not even know would happen. And you're the one that came up with the plans. Ana, you should be quite proud of yourself. You had a very successful day."

The redhead watched his mouth carefully. She couldn't hear the tone, but she could see in the way his mouth moved and the gentleness of his eyes that she understood the tone of comfort, reassurance, and encouragement that he was trying express. Ana smiled a bit and looked down for a moment a little shyly before looking back up at Obi-Wan.

"Thank you, Master," she tells him genuinely. She had been slightly nervous about screwing up all day and it was nice to hear that she actually did a good job, that it wasn't all in her head.

Obi-Wan was going to say something again when he saw Nova coming over. He looked up and gestured to the clone and Ana turned to regard the clone as well, stepping aside slightly and turning so that she could see both men as Nova began to take off his helmet and put it under his arm.

"Good work with the bombs, Sir," Nova congratulated her.

Ana smiled, with another genuine smile and she was almost blushing slightly.

"Thank you," she answered him.

"You look a little roughed up from the tunnels though, Sir," Nova replied. "I want to patch you up."

She had almost forgotten how scraped up she was. Looking down at herself, she realized that she already destroyed most of the new clothing she had. The shirt was ripped more than the pants, but they had plenty of rips in them as well. And her elbows and lower arms were completely scratched and over rubbed and dirty. She could only imagine how infected the wounds could be if she didn't clean them.

Ana looked over at Obi-Wan for a moment. It wasn't for approval, but to more find out if he had anything else to say. He looked back at her and gave her an encouraging smile before Ana turned back to Nova.

"Actually, I'm hoping I can meet you half-way, Nova," she answered. "Can I take a shower first? I'd get most of the dirt cleaned off that way anyway and then I won't have to take off the patches later."

And she could really go for a hot shower.

Obi-Wan nodded and, after some hesitation, Nova did as well.

"Very well, Sir," Nova agreed.

Ana gave him a last smile before turning to Obi-Wan, silently asking the question. The Jedi Master looked down at her and smiled as he nodded.

"Go ahead. I will join Master Mundi for the time being. I will most likely see you after you are finished in the med-bay," Obi-Wan said while signing to her.

Ana nodded and gave him one last smile before she nodded her goodbye to Nova as well.

"Gentleman," she said a little lower before moving off towards the ship, going past different clones who were talking to each other, some of them watching her as she walked past before they went back to their conversations. Nova, Cody, and Obi-Wan also watched her as Cody slowly walked towards Obi-Wan, his helmet still on.

When Ana was moving up the ramp, Cody turned to the Jedi Master and asked, "do you need me to come to the briefing, Sir?"

Turning to the Captain, Obi-Wan shook his head.

"No, Cody. I want you to stay here and tend to our group. I shouldn't be too long," Obi-Wan answered.

Obeying orders, Cody gave the General a salute and a "yes, Sir!" Obi-Wan gave the clone a smile and nod before walking off towards the direction that General Mundi went in. When he was gone, Cody relaxed his shoulders slightly, moving to take off his helmet and look at the rest of his team. Most of them had their helmets beside them, set on the ground as they were sitting to patch themselves up from injuries or were starting to put supplies together to count before loading up.

Cody walked towards the main group and everyone else watched him.

"Well, what do you think of our new Commander?" Cody asked them, looking over towards the others in the main group.

"I think she has the best upper arm strength in the whole GAR is what I think," Waxer answered.