In the heat of battle one can never anticipate how the inexperience will act. Unlike Clones, who are programmed to fight until their dying breath, the recent influx of volunteers to take the place of Clones didn't come with the same advantage.
"Bless their hearts, they try their best. However, I have little optimism in their ability to not run when shells are going off in every direction." Naboo's War Secretary said privately a confidant. When in front of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi, the War Secretary told them his volunteers (or irregulars) were ready for battle.
The time had come to shuffle the Clone Army out until they could figure out how to counter the C.I.S ability to hack into their inhibitor chips and make them switch sides. 250,000 men and women of the great planet of Naboo bravely boarded their transports for Geonosis, unsure of what awaited them, deep down they knew they were willing to die to protect the Galactic Republic and preserve freedom in the galaxy.
At the Jedi Temple, the Council instructed Tera, Anakin and his Padawan to lead them to victory. Their task, to repay the Confederates for destroying the republic's cloning facility on Kamino by doing the same to the C.I.S droid foundries on Geonosis. The council agreed this was a four Jedi job, only Tera's Padawan was placed on archive duties for sneaking out of the temple earlier in the week. Recently promoted Jedi Knight Barriss Offee was given his place.
"Barriss, I worked with your Master a couple of times. I have great admiration for her." Tera said, making Barriss feel proud. As one of the few Mirialans in the Jedi Order, her journey to becoming a Jedi Knight was aided by being paired next too Luminara Unduli, a fellow of her race.
"Thank you, Master Grant. I've heard about you as well. I have great respect for you. I hope you'll see that in battle."
"Indeed I hope." Tera started to guess Kyle's smart-aleck attitude was rubbing off on her.
"So they brought in the big guns." Barriss remarks. Tera nods.
"It's very important we strike the droid foundries. Our chances of winning the war rely on it."
"But with an inexperienced fighting force?" Barriss reminds. "How can we win?"
"By having faith in each other." Anakin walks in with his Padawan by his side. "Looks like we'll have our work cut out for us. Come on, our transport is leaving." Anakin tells them. Usually, he'd have Captain Rex on this missions as his right-hand man. A perfect foil for Skywalker to bounce his risky ideas off of, to contrast Rex's hardened, conservative military values. But Rex was quarantined, unable to communicate with anyone. As all of the high ranking Clone officials are.
In need of a leader for the volunteers force, Padme recalled a hero from the famous Battle of Naboo out of retirement, Quarsh Panaka hasn't seen military conflict in nearly a decade. Beyond teaching at the academy, Panaka watched The Clone War unfold from afar through newsreels.
"Master Skywalker, it's good to be working with you again." Panaka greets Anakin via transmission. The group was nearing their descent to Geonosis. "Pardon me if this sounds disrespectful, surely I don't mean it this way, but I was expecting Master Kenobi to accompany you?"
Not taking the captain's question as a slant, Skywalker calmly replied Obi-Wan was already on assignment elsewhere. To be more specific, Kenobi was assigned to protect the Duchess Satine Kyrze of Mandalore.
"So you're a Jedi Knight?" Ahsoka asks Barriss. She's seen Jedi Knights plenty of times before, only never so young. Barriss said she's twenty.
"I have been for two years." Barriss states rather shyly. Ahsoka could sense her uneasiness. It reminded her of the first time her and Kyle went on a mission. She guessed pre-battle jitters were more normal than she thought. "I trained really hard, I guess. Though, I've still never been given the rank of general."
"Why?" Ahsoka asks.
"I've always been paired with a Jedi Master during my missions." She confesses, before switching subjects. "You're awfully excited. Is this your first mission?"
"No. Me and my Master have been on plenty." She speaks highly of Anakin, fondly recalling when they initially got off on the wrong foot, but later bonded.
"Sounds like you have a good teacher."
"Oh, Anakin is great. We work together well despite our occasional tiffs." Ahsoka and Anakin never always saw eye to eye. Anakin badgered Ahsoka to ditch her Ataru form for a less aggressive stance, the rift between their ideologies grew, yet they still found a way to reach common ground.
Barriss chuckles lightly. "My Master was more of a 'do as I command' teacher. She wouldn't put up with insolence very well."
(Scene break)
The four Jedi did not miss out on any of the fun. Within no time the Separatists greeted their arrival with barrages of fire, knocking one of their allied transports out from the sky. Anyone who could grabbed ahold of the railings and held on tight. "Snips!" Anakin calls out to Ahsoka from opposite side of the transport.
"I know, I know. Hang on!"
Their landing wasn't graceful to say the least. The engine blew out and the landing gear didn't deploy, forcing the pilot to crash land a couple of miles from the intended site. "Is everyone okay?" Anakin asks. Everyone felt like their stomachs were turned inside out. The inexperienced soldiers from Coruscant, many of whom are on their first mission, fell to their knees and hurled.
"I feel like I just took a ride on the galaxy's worst rollercoaster." One soldier commented. Anakin couldn't tell who said it, but the wisecrack did amuse him.
Anakin knelt to check on one of the dozen soldiers assigned to them. He noticed their unorthodox uniforms. Gone are the standard white armor Clone attire. This man wore a dirt brown tunic and knee high whiter than snow socks. Each man held a backpack carrying various essential items such as first aide and emergency rations. Men of the 1st Her Majesties Life Guard Regiment planned for a war of attrition. Clones weren't expected to live long.
"Are you okay?" Anakin asks the man. He coughs madly, feeling his bones ache. Anakin offers his hand to assist the soldier back to his feet. "What's your name?"
"Pedro Cooper, sir!" Pedro salutes his superior.
"Help me dress this group up for our journey, private."
Pedro took his marching orders with a skip in his step. Despite the near brush with death, it looked as if everyone made it out of the crash intact. Bumps and bruises for sure. But nothing a bandage and maybe some disinfectant cannot fix. "Jania, get up." He orders her, as if given the rank of her superior.
"Keep your pants on, the battle isn't going anywhere." She dusts herself off. "That was a nasty spill we just had."
"Let's hope the rest of our time here isn't so fraught with danger." Pedro's comment was meant to be taken as satirical. Jania, however, wasn't amused.
(Scene break)
The Count lost a lot of trust in his assassin after he learned more of her failure to allude capture during the raid on Kamino. "You've proven yourself unfocused. A mere child could blindside you." He scolded her upon their first transmission after Grievous led the charge for her escape.
"It will not happen again, my Master." She bows her head in effort to convey full subordination. Mentally, Ventress was steaming and couldn't hide it very well.
"I sense your anger grows. Do not disappoint me again."
In the months since, Ventress has almost been sidelined, given only mundane, hard to screw up assignments. Personally, she didn't care how The Clone War turned out. All she wanted was to satisfy her thirst for blood, and have that snot nosed kid impaled on her red lightsaber. But as the news of the Confederates losing more and more territory despite the Clone army being in shambles, it ate her up knowing Dooku favored the slack-jawed Grievous over her.
"Another loss for the almighty warrior. How sad." Ventress mocks the robotic Jedi hunter. Grievous failed to hold on to Jedi Master Eeth Koth. He intended to use the Jedi as ransom, to get the Republic troops out of certain territories. Instead, Grievous ended up with nothing but egg all over his face.
"Should have killed him, would've made a bigger statement." She says dryly. Typically, Grievous would growl and murmur a thin threat. On this particular day, he's had enough. Retracting his long metallic arm he slapped Ventress aside like he does those nasally sounding battle droids. Ventress picks herself back up and ignites her weapons.
"If it's a fight you want, witch, then it's a fight you get!" He hisses. The two danced, Ventress taking advantage of the general's imbalance, being blinded by rage clouded his judgment and left him open to a sliced claw courtesy of the assassin.
"I don't know why Dooku puts so much trust in you. All you do is disappoint him." Ventress leans in to gloat at her apparent victory. A rather foolish move, as Grievous chokes her with little interest in letting go. Only thing stopping him from collapsing her windpipe is the red light signaling an incoming transmission from the Sith Lord himself. They put on a temporary truce, not wanting to explain to the Count why one of his apprentices wasn't around anymore.
"Grievous, you've disappointed me as of late. I will be appointing Ventress to defend our droid foundries on Geonosis." Dooku says rather flatly, his stoic stare not giving anything away.
"Yes, my Master." The two say in unison, bowing before his image. When his transmission ended, Ventress again stood over the now dejected Grievous with even more smugness.
"Welcome outside of the dog house." Grievous compliments, taking the assassin off guard for a moment.
"Make yourself at home." She replies.
(Scene break)
Panaka informed the Jedi of sniper droids placed over the mountains, before any progress is to be made they'd have to be dealt with. Tera and Anakin knew the tougher job was holding down the fort while the battle droids continued to advance at an unrelenting pace. To combat this, Panaka ordered his men to place barbed wire five feet from the trenches. If the droids advance far enough, the wire will buy them enough time to retreat to a safer distance and resume the battle.
"They teach you this at the academy?" Anakin lightly jokes with Panaka. The captain isn't amused. His expression is unmoving. Letting go of an awkward cough, Anakin resumes his duties. "Barriss, you and Ahsoka lead a team to despatch of those snipers. Captain, do you have any marksmen in your legion?" Panaka nods.
"She was just with you, Master Jedi. Her name is Jania Julio." He points to a brunet haired woman cleaning off her helmet. Jania appeared nervous when told the Jedi were counting on her. She saw the two Jedi and immediately gulped.
"I'm going on a mission with Ahsoka Tano!" She whispers happily to Pedro.
"Who?" Pedro gave her a bewildered expression.
"You know, Anakin's Padawan."
"I know who Skywalker is. Everybody does. Not many know he's a tutor." Pedro confesses. "How do you even know?"
"I follow everything the Jedi do. They're amazing." Pedro rolls his eyes.
"Come on, Jania, when are you going to grow up and let that stuff go. We're adults now. Let's focus on staying alive. Do me a favor will you, don't ask for their autographs." She doesn't tell Pedro upon meeting Anakin she already obtained his signature on her cloth napkin.
"Master Jedi" Jania was quick to bow to the two young women, despite one of them not being a Jedi Knight, she still addressed them all as such.
"Oh, no. Actually, I'm still a Padawan." Ahsoka cleared up.
"Right, of course. My bad I'm sorry. I should know that. I know who you are, my kids love you!" She blabbered on, biting her lip to get herself to stop talking. Ahsoka smiles, surprised and happy to learn people know her.
"I'm glad to hear that."
