Present Day

Location: Geonosis

Aurora's POV

As I laid down on a cliff that was overlooking where the base was set up, I sighed and close my eyes. My left arm was bandaged up to the best of its ability, but occasionally, if I moved it a certain way, I felt pain. After Obi-Wan and Ki-Adi left to head back to the Republic Fleet to regroup, Anakin, Ahsoka, and myself along with both of our battalions were waiting for Luminara, her padawan, and their battalion to arrive, as they would be helping us with blowing up the factory.

My long blond hair was not pulled back any longer and was hanging down. At this point, I didn't care if I had sand/dirt in my hair as at this point there was already dried blood, sweat, and dirt from earlier when it was pulled back. My dark black, skin-tight, sleeveless beskar-woven suit has dust/dirt all over it, along with some blood from when I got shot. My inner piece was disturbed when I heard Republic gunships fly above me, making my eyes snap open. I slowly sat up and looked ahead to see multiple gunships landing.

"Guess they're here." I said aloud, though I didn't automatically move from my position.

I slowly got up and walked down the cliff which led back to camp. As I walked back into camp, I was met by Fox, who had his helmet off…the only thing different between him and Rex was that Fox had dark hair, whereas Rex had blonde hair.

"There you are, Skywalker has already had his briefing." Fox explained. "He was wondering where you were."

"Enjoying my sanity while I still have it." I explained as we walked toward Anakin and Ahsoka were…and they looked like they were arguing. "I feel like a parent when I'm with them."

Fox smirked. "You are then most calm out of the both of them."

"And the sanest." I replied.

As we got older, their argument continued to get louder, and at this point I was already annoyed by my arm, hearing people argue…it made me more annoyed.

"Hey!" I shouted at the two of them. "Are you two imbeciles done arguing? Or am I going to have to separate you two, or lock you both in a room so you can scream it out at each other?"

Both turned to look at me as I crossed my arms, and before either of them could reply, Luminara and her padawan came up to Fox and I.

"You certainly know how to keep them in line." She warmly remarked.

I smiled. "Please, I just don't take their nonsense."

"They do that quite a bit." She said with a nod, as Anakin and Ahsoka came up to the four of us.

Ahsoka smiled. "Master Luminara, it is so good that you could join us."

She nodded to Ahsoka before gesturing to her padawan. "Well, Barriss, aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

Barriss nodded before bowing slightly toward Anakin and Ahsoka. "Padawan Barriss Offee at you service."
Ahsoka smiled and reached out her hand. "Glad to meet you, I'm Ahsoka."

I leaned over to Fox. "Finally, someone in this damn organization not bowing to me."

Barriss then turned towards me and bowed deeply. "Your Royal Highness, it is an honor to serve alongside you and be in your presence."

I nodded before leaning over to Fox again. "I spoke too soon."

"It's good to see you both again." Anakin said warmly.

Luminara sighed. "I wish it was under more peaceful circumstances."

Within the next few moments, Anakin, Ahsoka, Luminara, Barriss, and myself were surrounding the small holotable we had looking over a projection of the factory. I had sent Fox to prepare the troops for battle, as soon after the briefing, the fight was going to begin. Currently we were debating on if we should do a frontal or backward attack.

"A frontal attack is risky. Our losses will be high." She explained.

"Not if you have aided aerial support." I explained. "All of my battalion made it through the first assault, we can easily provide aerial support."

She nodded. "That would be beneficial, but Admiral Yularen requested that some of them would be led by Commander Shock on the planet elsewhere."

I sighed, I had completely forgot that I dispatched half of my team elsewhere on the plant…not like they didn't need us…they were some of the most skilled clones I had met. They were completely capable of their job.

"With either case, the casualties won't be as high as they will if that factory comes online." Anakin explained.

Luminara nodded before zooming in to show the bottom of the factory. "Indeed, but there is an alternative. Every Geonosian building has a series of catacombs beneath it that run deep underground."

"Some of the tunnels are close enough to this cliff wall, so that you could cut a hole and make an entry point." Barriss explains.

"Once inside." Luminara continued. "We could find the main reactor, plant the explosives, and blow the factory inside out."

I crossed my arms. "Looks like a good way to get lost, if you ask me."

"For the unprepared, perhaps. But I have instructed Barriss to memorize the labyrinth, all 200 junctions." She explained.

I smiled in awe. "Hmm."

Anakin smiled. "You always were thorough."

She nodded. "It pays for one to be prepared. Right Barriss?"

Barriss nodded. "Especially when other people's lives depend on your success."

My smile grew. "Agreed, my mother always installed that upon me when I was younger."

Ahsoka's head tilted to the side. "How do we keep the Geonosians occupied while someone else is setting the bombs?"

"Good point Snips." Anakin replied in agreement. "If whoever's going in there is going to be successful, we'll need to create a diversion."

"Not just a diversion." I replied. "A good diversion."

"Precisely. That task will be caried out by you two and I, Skywalker and Kryze, while the destruction of the factory falls to the padawans." Luminara explained.

Anakin's eyebrows rose practically to his hairline. "Now hold on. Who decided that? Walking into that factory could be suicide."

"Indeed, and if the three of us are successful at holding Poggle's attention at the bridge, it will be much easier." She continued.

I glanced at Anakin's expression and sighed. "If you don't want her to go, I'll go in her place…I could care less if I die at this point."

Anakin nodded and gestured to me. "Take her instead of Ahsoka…there problem solved!"

Luminara shook her head. "No, the Princess is needed on the front lines with us…don't worry my padawan is reliable, as she can lead the both of them through the maze."

Barriss nodded. "We'll be in and out Master."

"See?" Ahsoka said with a smirk. "Dependable Barriss will get us through. Don't worry Master. As you well know, I can follow orders."

"Unlike him." I murmured under my breath.

Anakin sighed. "Fine."

Luminara nodded as she held out two communicators to Barriss and Ahsoka, and gave one to both Anakin and I. "We'll monitor your progress on these chronometers. Synthesize on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!"

We all pressed the buttons at the same time, and I attached mine to one of the gauntlets on my wrist.

"After you Barriss." Ahsoka said gesturing ahead of her before they both took off running through the camp heading toward the factory.

As the three of us watched the two girls run towards the factory, we were all silent, before we pulled up the map of the bridge.

"We'll need to make a bold move if we're to keep their attention on us, and not on the padawans." Luminara explained.

I smirked. "Why not just knock on the front door?"

Anakin nodded in agreement. "That could work, an attack that bold would definitely draw their attention."

Luminara frowned. "But with no cover?"

"Don't worry about cover, we have enough firepower that we'll be quite alright." I replied.

Luminara nodded. "I will inform my battalion then."

As she walked away Anakin and I fell silent.

"What's wrong?" I questioned.

He shook his head. "Nothing is wrong."

I titled my head to the side. "I've known you well enough now to know something is wrong…you think Ahsoka is not up to the task."

"I never said that." He retorted.

I sighed before walking toward him and crossing my arms. "You didn't have to. Anakin I've known you well enough that you are basically a family member to me at this point. You're like my brother, yes you may have not needed to say that you don't think Ahsoka is prepared enough…but if you continue to have that thought, Ahsoka will never be able to complete any task…with whatever it may be. Patience…you need patience, especially in times like these."

He started to smile. "Now you sound like Obi-Wan."

I rolled my eyes and lightly punched his shoulder. "Please…I am noting like that man."

"C'mon, let's get this over with." He said gesturing to the camp, and I nodded.

Sure enough, all three of us, along with all three of our battalions were walking across the bridge. In front of us, the factory door began to open, which revealed hundreds of battle droids, along with tanks beginning to march out.

"And here come the droids." I said in annoyance.

"Everybody steady. Steady. Keep marching." Anakin instructed.

"I hope the padawans have made it past the bridge by now." Luminara replied.

"Do you have your flamethrowers?" Anakin asked.

"Of course, I do...no jetpack though…it gets heavy after a while." I explained.

He nodded. "I get that…that's a lot of droids."

I smirked. "Well, it is a droid factory."

"As look as we can destroy them faster than they can make 'em, we'll come out on top." He said in seriousness.

I laughed. "Your logic never fails to amaze me."

He rolled his eyes as he and Luminara activated their lightsabers. "I'm honored Princess."

I activated my gauntlets and pulled out one of my blasters.

"Here we go." I said to myself as the droids began to fire.

As the droids began to fire, the clones began to return the fire. Anakin and Luminara began to block the bolts with their lightsabers, whereas I returned the fire on the droids with my blaster, but I also dodged the attacks as well. I quickly got a glance behind me and saw that a few clones had fallen, but with what few clones had fell, more droids fell as well. To my surprise, some of the Geonosian bugs began to fly out of the factory, and began firing their blasters at us, whereas some of them, flew down, and picked up clones.

"Shit!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to kill Yularen for taking my aerial support away!"

"Discuss it with him later Ro!" Anakin shouted over the fire. "We've got bigger things to worry about!"

"No really?!" I sarcastically replied.

Luminara, Anakin, and I then broke off and ran towards the droids. We each fought the droids in our own way. Eventually, I got tired of using my blaster, and switched to my gauntlets, as I probably was going to have better usage of them then with my blaster.

"They should have entered the catacombs by now!" Luminara shouted.

"I hope they're not lost down there!" Anakin replied.

Within the next few moments, the fight started to look like we were winning as most of the droids were falling, and almost all of us were standing. Just as things were going our way, the factory doors began to open once again, and these huge machines began to come out.

"What…the hell…are those?" Anakin said in shock.

"If I had to bet credits on it…probably some new tank." I said in all honesty before turning around to Fox. "Fox! Pick your targets!"

And at the same time Anakin said: "Rex! Pick your targets!"

From my position, Fox and Rex both nodded before both instructed the tanks to begin firing. The tanks that the factory revealed also started firing. As the cannons from the tanks continued to fire, I noticed that the tanks they were firing at began to smoke…however, when firing stopped, they emerged unharmed.

"Princess," Fox began. "Nothing could've survived that."

"They have to be ray-shielded." Anakin explained.

"What do we do?" I questioned.

And just as I asked the question, the device on mine and Anakin's wrist began to beep.

"The bombs are armed." I explained

"The padawans did it!" Luminara joyfully replied.

Anakin nodded. "And right on time."

As the Republic tanks began to retract, Anakin, Luminara, and I began to race back towards the battalions.
"Order your men to fall back!" I yelled to Fox and Anakin did the same to Rex.

"But Princess, you can't be telling us to turn tail and run!" Fox protested.

"I'm not saying run Fox! Skywalker wants the tanks on the bridge…its part of his plan." I explained.

Fox sighed before slowly retreating with his tank and part of the men from my battalion.

"Get off the bridge!" I instructed.

The Separatist tanks continued to fire, but that's when a familiar hum came from the sky. Sure enough, 5 Republic fighters came into view, and bombed the separatist tanks, destroying them. I smiled as it was part of my battalion, I looked up to Fox.

"I called in a few favors." He explained and I nodded.

"Where are they?" Anakin asked frantically as he looked for Ahsoka and Barriss. "Those bombs are gonna go off any second."

"The evacuation ships are arriving." I began. "So, stop acting stupid and get your ass on a ship!"

"Not without Ahsoka!" Anakin shouted back to me. "Ahsoka, can you hear me? Ahsoka, where are you?"

Just as he said this, the factory doors began to open again, and more droids marched out.
"You've got to be kidding me." I said in annoyance, and just as I got ready to fight, an explosion went off destroying the factory. I ran towards Anakin and grabbed him as we both ducked for cover as a storm of dust, dirt, rock, and sand filled the air. After a few moments, once the air was once again clear, Anakin, Luminara, and I ran towards the edge of the now crater that was once the factory.

"Ahsoka?" Anakin spoke into his coms. "Ahsoka, can you hear me? Come in!"

He got no answer and Master Luminara knelt.

"Do not worry Master Luminara." I explained in solemnity.

"Be at ease Skywalker." She responded.

"At ease?" He questioned in annoyance. "We need to act now; they may still be alive down there."

"There's not enough time, I sense them drifting away." She explained.

"No!" Anakin protested. "We'll get them out."

Rex then walked up to us. "The tank lifters are here to move the debris as ordered General."

Anakin nodded. "Get to it Rex."

As Rex and the rest of the clones began to dig, I crouched down at the edge of the crater. I closed my eyes. I don't know why I did this, but I felt the urge…almost like something was telling me to. I sighed as I tried to block out any noise and tried to listen for calls for help under the rubble, and quite faintly, I heard someone trying to activate their coms device.

My eyes shot open. "Do you hear that?"
Anakin shook his head. "Hear what?"

I tilted my head to the side. "That beeping noise, coming from over there."

I pointed to an area with heavy debris.

"Rex, clear that area!" Anakin instructed.

Sure enough, in a few moments, two sets of arms were seen climbing out of the rubble, meaning one thing, both Ahsoka and Barriss were alive.

"They're still alive. I told you we shouldn't give up on them!" Anakin said to Luminara.

"It's not that I gave up, Skywalker. But unlike you, when the time comes, I am prepared to let my student go. Can you say the same?" She asked but Anakin didn't answer.

Instead, Anakin walked to me as Ahsoka and Barriss boarded a Republic shuttle to head back to the fleet.

"How did you hear that beeping from Ahsoka's coms?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know…I've always had really active hearing like that…I guess its genetic…my cousin has it as well."

He nodded but still looked at me questionably before he walked away.

It's true, I've always had that active hearing thing since I was a kid, I just never told anyone, but lately, with rescuing the children, and now Ahsoka, it's become more active…why I don't know…but I don't want to tell anyone else about it.

I was leaning up against one of the Republic Gunships as Obi-Wan, who had just arrived along with Ki-Adi, walked up to me.

"You look exhausted." He spoke.

I huffed in amusement. "It's been a long day…I got shot…you know, another day in the life."

He smiled. "I'm guessing you're staying until we find Poggle."

I nodded. "You're not getting rid of me that quickly. Remember, I helped blow up that damn factory."

He nodded in agreement. "Indeed."

"And she found Ahsoka." Anakin interjected. "That I will forever be grateful for."

I smiled. "You owe me…but we can discuss that later…right now, we have bigger things to worry about."