Author's Note:
Sorry it took so long to get the next chpt up, but I didn't have internet access the whole weekend :( But I still worked on my story, and I got 3 chpts done :D hopefully you enjoy it.
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The Clone Wars
Chapter 2: Raid on the Separatist City
Salo was sitting cross-legged in a tent set up for him and the other three, his eyes closed – he was meditating. He did it often; it helped him remain focused on his abilities with the force.
Anakin walked in and noticed Salo, he realized that Salo was meditating and decided not to bother him right now, but a voice stopped him from exiting the tent.
"You don't have to leave." Salo said while remaining in his same meditating position.
"Well you seemed to be focusing, I didn't think I should bother you."
"No it's alright," Salo said opening his eyes and directing them toward Anakin, "I'm done anyway. Is there something you want to tell me?"
"Nothing really, I was just trying to find where you went. And also, it seems the droids are getting ready to attack."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we're positive that they'll begin their attack today, we just don't know when."
"Alright, give me word when you receive more information."
"No problem." Anakin turned to begin exiting the tent, but was again stopped.
"Hey, wait."
"What is it?"
"I just want to ask you something: Do you ever meditate?" Salo asked with anticipation.
"Not really, it never suited me…" Anakin replied.
"Maybe you should try, it can really help you with focusing on the force, it works for me."
Anakin paused for a second trying to think it over, "…Yeah why not?" He had nothing else to do anyway. He sat down next to Salo cross-legged.
"Alright," Salo started, "I'm not a great teacher, but I think I can show you how to do this properly. Just close your eyes and concentrate."
"Alright." Anakin closed his eyes and concentrated – on Salo's voice, on his surroundings, on the barking commands of the Clone Troopers outside.
"Now just remain calm and concentrated." Salo said smoothly. Anakin didn't say anything in reply. He continued to concentrate. After a few minutes, images started flashing through Anakin's mind.
"Just concentrate." Salo said comfortingly, it seemed he knew there were obscured images going through Anakin's mind. Anakin tried to focus, and make the images become clear.
"You're trying too hard, just calm yourself." With a small sigh, Anakin tried to calm down. He finally managed to calm himself and concentrate on the images. The images in his head became clear. It was a city, the Separatist City. Inside the command base, the droids were preparing.
"We attack at noon." One of the droid commander's eerie voice said. Anakin saw what was going on in the city right now, and more importantly, he knew when the droids were planning to attack. Then the image of the droids, along with the city, vanished. Nothing left but an absolute dark.
Suddenly, another image appeared. It wasn't the Separatist City though, it wasn't even this planet that they were on. It was a volcanic planet, full of lava and molten rock everywhere. What was this place? Why was Anakin having a vision of it?
You were the Chosen One!
Anakin snapped back to reality breathing heavily, which also alerted Salo.
"What's wrong?"
Anakin didn't say anything for a minute. That voice, he heard in his vision, he didn't see who said it, but he thought it sounded like Obi-Wan. But why? Anakin knows he's the Chosen One, but why was Obi-Wan screaming it like it pained him?
"Anakin?" Salo asked soothingly.
"Nothing…I'm ok."
"I don't really believe that. When someone snaps from meditation like that, it's not normally a good sign. What did you see?"
"I…" It took Anakin a few seconds to get the words together, "I saw a planet…full of lava…"
"And?"
"I heard a voice…it screamed 'You were the Chosen One'"
"That's weird. You're the Chosen One." Salo pointed out.
"I know, I don't get it."
"Well…It's possible you had a future vision."
"I'm not surprised, I've had them before."
"Really?"
"Yeah, they were of my mother." Anakin's voice trailed off for a second, "Just before she died."
Salo had a questionable look on his face, "I don't know. But I think that's enough for the meditation for now."
"Yeah…" Anakin got up to his feet, followed by Salo. They walked toward the exit of the tent, but not before Anakin remembered his other vision of the droids, "Oh yeah, wait. I need to tell you about my other vision, it was about the droid army."
"Yeah I know, I had to same vision, they attack at noon." Salo finished. Anakin had a puzzled look on his face. Salo continued with a smirk, "Meditating has other benefits too."
"So I've noticed…" Anakin remarked as they exited the tent and went to meet with Obi-Wan and Zare.
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Just before noon, the troops are all ready to go. Obi-Wan and Zare take their place at the front line and they begin the march to the battlefield. As Anakin and Salo made their way to their Jedi Starfighters, they were going to fly into the Separatist City. Someone may wander how that would be "sneaking", Salo even asked, the answer was, "It won't matter what you do to get into the city, they'll know you're there either way; so you might as well go the fastest way." Even though the original plan was to sneak in, they just recently found out that there was no way to actually sneak in, so instead they'll blast their way in. And that also makes the "diversion" battle pointless, now it's just a battle to lessen the droid forces. Obi-Wan and Zare still planned to be in that battle to help the Clones have an easier win.
Salo and Anakin got into their own Starfighters and took off toward the city at full throttle.
"We're approaching the city." Anakin said over the cockpit's intercom.
"I see that." Salo replied sarcastically. Anakin let out a little chuckle, then quickly remained focus, and the two continued their course.
"Incoming fighters!" Anakin shouted as the incoming Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters swarmed towards them. Anakin and Salo split up and flew head on into the swarm firing shot after shot and destroying several enemy fighters.
"Watch out, there's one on your tail!" Anakin's voice boomed over the speakers in Salo's Starfighter. Salo dove his ship down toward the ground, and the enemy Tri-Fighter took the bait. Salo led it all the way down, pulling up just in time, only a few inches from the ground, the Tri-Fighter, however, collided into the ground. Salo soared back up into the air and shot down a few more fighters while he was at it.
Anakin twisted out of the way as debris from a blown up Vulture droid shot toward him. He shot down another one the was right in front of him. One got behind him and started firing, but Anakin quickly barrel rolled out of the way and powered his thrusters down to brake. The enemy Tri-Fighter then overshot him, and Anakin quickly shot it down, "I think we should take this to the city."
"Good idea." Salo followed Anakin on course for the Separatist City and sped his way toward the city, dodging enemy fire along the way.
They made it to the city, dodging a barrage of laser fire from enemy fighters and turrets alike. Salo dodged to the left to avoid being hit by laser fire, and an oncoming building. He shot down two more enemy fighters while dodging fire from turrets on nearby buildings. They really didn't seem to want enemies in the city...
Anakin was in another location in the city, he shot down a few enemy fighters, then turned his attention on a laser turret that was giving him a lot of trouble. He fired a rocket at the turret that exploded on impact, and the turret went up in a heap of debris and smoke. He then dodged out of the way of an oncoming Vulture droid that must have been on a suicide mission to take Anakin down with it. Anakin fired off another rocket at a bridge support beam, and the bridge started crumbling. Anakin flew under the collapsing bridge as a few other fighters on his tail were crushed. With a smirk, he called over the intercom to Salo, "Salo? Do you see that building?"
"It depends which one you're talking about."
"The big one that stretches up over all the rest."
"Oh yeah, that one's pretty hard to miss."
"Well make your way toward that one, it's the Capitalist Building. General Grievous should be hiding away in there somewhere."
"Alright, I'll meet you there." Salo dove down to dodge some more enemy fire. He led the enemies trailing behind him down into a narrow tunnel. The two Tri-Fighters couldn't navigate through the tunnels and crashed. But the Vulture droid was able to somehow, it fired a few shots at Salo, one of them colliding into the side of Salo's fighter, "Crap!"
"What's wrong?" Anakin's voice asked through the speakers.
"I've been hit, it's not bad though. Although I could use an astromech droid right now."
"I didn't feel like risking Artoo."
"I don't blame you, that's one of the coolest droids I've ever seen." Anakin let out a little laugh at Salo's remark. Salo dodged out of the way of some more shots, then with a scowl he rolled his fighter upward and shot down the Vulture droid after it passed him.
"I didn't stop you from bringing your own droid though." Anakin continued.
"Well...I actually didn't feel like risking Arthree either, I've grown rather attached to him."
"It's nice to see someone else who refers to droids as people rather than things."
Salo chuckled, "Yeah well, I'm an attachful person. I remember this one time, I-"
"Save it," Anakin cut in, "We can finish this conversation later, right now we have to stay focused."
"Right, sorry. I got a little side tracked, happens all the time." With a little chuckle, they continued on course for the Capitalist Building.
Anakin was just a little way from the building. The turrets opened fire on sight of the Jedi Starfighter. Anakin dodged and weaved out of the way of the laser fire, he shot off a few rockets and laser fire of his own to destroy some of the turrets. He landed in the hangar implanted in the building.
Salo was there just a few seconds later, finishing off the rest of the turrets that Anakin passed up. He then landed in the hangar near Anakin. The two of them got out of their fighters and ignited their lightsabers simultaneously; a beam of blue plasma coming out of each of their lightsaber hilts. The battle droids in the hangar stared firing at the two Jedi Knights. Salo and Anakin spun and twirled their lightsabers around as they deflected blaster shots and cut through droids and reducing them to heaping piles of parts.
Salo thrust his blade into one of the droid's chest then quickly withdrew it and spun it around behind him cutting down another droid while deflecting a blaster bolt back at another droid.
Anakin's blade cut through one of the droid's neck and severed it's head from it's body. He quickly spun his lightsaber around deflecting blaster bolts back at the shooters, then quickly spun around and cut through another droid severing the top from it's legs.
They continued cutting, slicing, and deflecting until all of the droids were nothing but heaping piles of smoking parts. They stood back to back and turned off their lightsabers and attached them back to their waste.
"Alright let's go." Anakin said as he walked toward the exit from the hangar.
"Right behind you." Salo replied and followed Anakin.