Chapter Five

Siri yelled curses as she stomped down the hall. Through her ranting, she attracted the stares of many ship officers. She made her way to the training hall, where all of her crew was. She made the announcement that she was given a new command, and her crew would be merged with General Kenobi's fleet. Some were dismayed, and still others were just as happy. She had been a hard commander, and just a tad unlucky.

After her training hall visit, she made her way to the hangar, and grabbed a red decorated Eta-2 Jedi interceptor. She consulted her datapad, plugged the coordinates of her fleet into the onboard R2 unit, and sat back as the droid got a hyperspace ring attached to the ship, and jumped to hyperspace.

It was just then she realized that she was still dressed up. She had forgotten to get her effects. Needless to say, the cockpit was filled with curses the entire trip.

"Captain on deck," said the deck officer as she got out of her starfighter, still swearing. All the soldiers snapped to attention. She couldn't see his face, but she could sense that he was wondering why she was wearing a dress, earrings, and a jade necklace. She rolled her eyes, and walked up to the officer. "Where are my quarters?"

"The top of Tower A, ma'am."

"Is that wise?"

"I'm don't believe so, ma'am."

"Have my quarters moved with the rest of the crew quarters. Just get me one a little bit larger. Turn that room into a storage for something useless."

"You mean to stay by the barracks, ma'am?" responded the soldier. She nodded, and said, "And lieutenant, you may call me sir. I don't mind. No need for formalities here."

"Yes ma—sir," came the reply, and he ran off to carry out her order. She sighed, and went to inspect the bridge.

She was just about to get into the turbolift below the bridge, when she caught a clonetrooper in red decaled armor, followed three troopers in decaled armor of green, orange, and blue. The only problem was that the red's helmet was off, and was slacking; most unlike clone troopers.

"Is there a problem, gentleman?" she asked politely.

"No ma'am, no problem."

"Then why are you violating dress code? You were never given an "at ease" order," she snapped. Leaning forward, so that he was just inches from her nose, the violator said, "Ma'am, I don't know who you are, but I don't take orders from someone out of uniform," referring to her shimmersilk dress. She had a mind to suspend him and his smart mouth right then and there. These must be the commandos and the ARC trooper. No regular trooper would have replied in this kind of way, ever. The ARC troopers were a special weapon in the Republic arsenal. Though they looked the same and had the same build as normal troopers, and were given the same growth inducers, their minds were not tampered with. They were not completely obedient; not following every single order to the exact word. They had minds of their own, and were independent. This made them ideal for special missions. Commandos also developed interesting personality quarks.

"Very well then," she said through clenched teeth, and got into the turbolift.

The bridge was neat and clean. Almost exactly identical to the one on her other ship, the bridge on this ship, the Iron Hammer possessed the same indents in the floor for crew operations. Her new chair looked a little more comfortable, and everything on the bridge was top of the line. She almost whistled.

Then she noticed that she was still attracting stares. "What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" she yelled. She rolled her eyes, and went to go find her quarters.

When she got to her quarters, she was surprised to find that everything that she needed was already provided. She had four sets of uniforms, a set of Jedi robes, even a formal dining outfit. There was even a set of clone armor, customized for her! These clones never ceased to amaze her. And the room size! She'd said a little larger, not gargantuan! The quarters had a bedroom, small kitchen, a full bathroom, and a small dining/living area! "Wow…" she thought. The first thing she did was go to the bathroom, strip down, and take a shower. Her lithe body was still as hard and muscular as ever. She had feared that she had grown pudgy due to her sitting in a captain's chair for a while. She was thankful that she was wrong.

After the refreshing shower, she dried, and quickly donned her Jedi robes. It was then she realized that she had not eaten for twenty-four hours. She hadn't even touched her food when she had been in Obi-Wan's cabin. So, she made herself a cup of caf, and looked around the cupboards for something to eat. There was some nice, dried out ration paste. She fixed it up, took the bowl into her bedroom, and turned on the holo. As she ate her tasteless porridge, she watched events unfold before on the holo-net news. Reports about victory and defeat across countless fronts of Republic battles flashed across the screen. She even heard about her own recent battle.

"And now, in other news," said the blonde human female reporter, "are the Jedi betraying what they believe in? We have a live coverage from the Republic attack cruiser Beacon of Light in the Alderaan system."

Beacon of Light. That was Obi-Wan's ship! The holo flashed to a Bith reporter in a corridor inside the ship.

"Last night, a Jedi Knight was seen running through these doors," said the reporter, motioning to Obi-Wan's quarters. "Here's a video clip of the situation," he said, and the holo flashed again. And there, on the holo, was Siri Tachi, running out of Obi-Wan's quarters in her formal attire. Her mouth dropped.

"She's dressed up, as you can see. We know this is a Jedi Knight, but we are not allowed to disclose whom. Seeing that she's dressed up, and seeing the way she is storming out into the corridor, we can gather that something went wrong on some sort of…date. Why would there be a date, if the Jedi do not fall in love? Now, this may just be a big shot in the dark, but it is still unnerving. If they are willing to drop some principles of theirs, why not others?" stated the Bith. "Back to you, Lenayla."

Siri just put her bowl down, and dropped back on her bed.

"No, Master Yoda, I was most certainly not on a date with Obi-Wan. Master, he invited me to dinner to talk about your orders for me. I thought it would be funny if I dressed up. I'm sorry if it disgraced the order."

"Disgraced, the order was not. Hurt, your pride was. A talk, with the press stations I will have," said Yoda in his weird way of talking. He was almost laughing at the situation. Siri's pride was hurt. The thought of Obi-Wan and her…still brought butterflies to her stomach. She thought back to the time, when they had been stuck together on a dying starship, when they had confessed their secret love for one another. Of course, that was a long time ago, and they'd made the mistake of completely ignoring their feelings. Only when she was dying had they really been open about it. She had died, but now she was back, and confusion about her relationship with Obi-Wan was still wreaking havoc with her thinking. She mentally rolled her eyes. The thought that her and Obi-Wan would ever be together was ridiculous, but still exhilarating. She didn't know how he felt about her, mainly because she was a clone, and even she wasn't sure of her feelings now. Thank the Force she would never have to find out.

"Get some rest, you must, Siri," Yoda stated plainly.

"Yes, Master."

"Discouraged, you should not be. Take this situation lightly, you must. Humorous even, it is," Yoda continued, and Siri grudgingly agreed. It was kind of funny. It was just another one of those weird coincidences that happened during life. You needed to cherish them, no matter how embarrassing. Still…she'd never live it down.

Thankfully, the clonetroopers did not know how to joke. They also did not watch the news. So, her command was not undermined, as it would have been with a normal crew.

"Where was the last report of Grievous?"

"Melida/Daan, sir."

"Ah. Set a course for Melida/Daan, best possible speed. Tell the others to form up."

"Aye."

Much of the voyage was uneventful. A small plate came loose on one of her ships, but nothing big. It was when they got to Melida/Daan, when the real trouble started.

Melida/Daan had been in a civil war that had lasted for hundreds of years. The two warring tribes, the Melida and the Daan couldn't even agree on a name for their planet. So the Republic had named it Melida/Daan. The latter years of the war were just revenge fighting. Near the end of the war, no one even remembered what the original cause of the war was. When the Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi had come in to rescue the Jedi Tahl, who had tried to solve the conflict, from the Melida, they ended up getting involved. They met another faction of the planet, the Young. The Young were the youth of the planet who were sick of the fighting. Obi-Wan grew attached to the Young. When the time came to leave, Obi-Wan was faced with a choice. Leave, and be a Jedi, or stay, and leave the Order. He chose to leave the Order. The Young were caught up in a war with the Elders, or the united forces of the Melida and Daan against their children. With the aid of Obi-Wan, the Young won the war, and set up a government. But soon, the Young began fighting with themselves. Obi-Wan was an outcast, and he sent for aid from Qui-Gon, his former master, and the conflict was soon resolved. Ever since then, Melida/Daan had been very loyal to the Republic.

Until now, apparently.

Melida/Daan had two shipyards in orbit, both of which were pumping out ships. Confederate ships. Siri stared in horror at the two capital ships under construction in the shipyards. Melida/Daan had always been peaceful, and now this?

"Prepare to engage the enemy. Order the others to prepare as well," she said determinedly. There were two other ships in orbit, as well as a squadron of Trade Federation vulture droids. Her squadron would dispatch of them quickly. But how many more forces were on the ground? Well, best to just take it one step at a time. The squad of vulture droids were already on their way towards them, and the ARC-170's and V-19 Torrent's were already launching out of the twin docking bays of her ship. It'd be over in no time.

She ordered the Hurricane, the Fast Striker, and the Domino Effect to intercept the two small Separatist frigates. She ordered three other ships to take out the construction going on in the shipyards. She told them to try to not damage the frame itself. Siri knew the ordered would be carried out with efficiency and speed. Her other nine ships would start an orbit around Melida/Daan.

"Prepare a troop lander. I want one hundred clonetroopers, and the commandos and the ARC with me when I make my landing. Make sure that the other landers are ready to land at a moments notice. I don't want to have to have a losing battle on my hands once I land. Oh, and make a note in the log saying I'm calling the commandos and the ARC the Special Operations team, okay?" she said.

"Yes, ma'am."