AN: So from reviewing the comments I'm getting from some people who were not happy about the "possible" Ruby X OC/Flisk. Okay, your guy's choice. But to remind you all, it won't be the main topic of this story. At most, there will be a story arc between the two I got in the planning stages. Otherwise, the romance is secondary, and friendship and war first!

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By this point if feels repetitive on apologizing on it being to long between updates so I'll skip it in till it's necessary.

Also be aware of errors. Still a grammar blunder, I am.

"This could pose a problem."

They were standing in one of the tall trees where the Lurmen get their pods for their homes. Ruby and Veena led Master Kota, Knight Secura, Padawan Tano, and Commander Bly to observed the Separatist base from afar, stationed on the now identified planet of Maridun.

They watched as droid patrols went about their programmed duties while staying close to the base from afar.

Dawn was breaking upon Maridun. The rest of their comrades had been left behind at the Lurmen village, allowing Anakin and the wounded to heal correctly and the Clones to rest while scouting out the CIS base nearby.

"How long have these guys been here?" Ahsoka asked as she looked the base over. Seeing the sold high walls and guard towers.

"Not long," Master Kota answered. "Those fortifications are recent. The dirt around that was moved to level the walls look fresh, the soil still poking out. Barely upturned a week by the looks of things."

"And asides from making a base here, what have they been doing?" Inquired Commander Bly. "I don't see any signs of them making a droid factory here."

"A listening Outpost?" Ayala analyses.

"Possibly..." Kota agrees. "This is neutral space, where few would suspect such action." The Jedi then noticed Ruby's grimm face. "Something the matter, Miss Rose? You look like something's bothering you." The Jedi inquired.

The Huntress looked at the place with a critical eye before she glances back at the Jedi. Ruby then takes her weapon, unfurls into its sniper mode, and hands it to the old Jedi. "Look inside the base on the far wall right side, just under the catwalk."

The Jedi raised an eyebrow before hefting the rifle up. Commander Bly used his bannocks while Ayala used her binoculars. They looked at the area Ruby mentioned and saw supply creates and cages. They continued looking but could not see what had Ruby worried. Then it clicked in Rahm's head when he looked back.

"Those cages..."

"Are big enough for the villagers to be stuffed in." Ruby finished while also retrieving Crescent Rose from Rahm.

"Slavery?!" Ahsoka said in surprise. "They want to take and enslave the Villagers?!"

"The Sep's haven't stooped down to that level, have they?" Bly said.

Ruby shook her head. "I don't think so. If they did, then they have enough cages to round everyone up. No, this is a testing facility." Now everyone looked at the redhead with surprised faces.

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Ahsoka asked.

The Remnant native sighed as she thought back to not so long ago before the Vytal Festival. Two? Three months ago, was it? Man did time fly.

"A while back, my team and I ended up on a series of missions that led us to a secret lab run by a scientist that everyone thought was dead. His lab was filled with captured Grimm that he experimented on. Enhancing them to make them even more dangerous. This place reminds me a bit of that."

Master Kota hummed at that before taking another look at the base. "A testing facility out in neutral space makes sense. That, I wouldn't put the Separates behind."

"If the Droids got themselves a new weapon, they mean to test it. A likely target would be on the Lurman village. That can not happen," Aayla stated firmly.

"If we're lucky, we can take one of their ships. Use it to leave the planet or call for reinforcements," Bly suggested.

"Then we have our objectives," Veena began. "Now, how do we execute?"

"Don't be rushing in too soon, Sergeant," Kota warned. "Examine all variables. Commander, what else do you see in the compound?" He said to the clone.

Bly looked around saw a bunch of Droids guarding a modified AAT. "Lot of activity on the east wall. Buch of Droids protecting one of their tanks. This one with an artillery cannon that I don't recognize instead of the usual main gun."

"The Separatist's new weapon then?" The Padawan asked.

"I would suspect so, Padawan Tano," Kota replied. "Testing a weapon of that scale on a distant world like this will no doubt cause less attention rather than in their own territory."

"We should return to the village," Aayla announced. "It will be dark soon, and we should inform Skywalker before coming up with a plan."

The group packed up and moved out. They got down from the trees and moved silently through the tall grass to keep out of sight. When they were sure the Droids could no longer spot them from a distance, they moved at a quicker pace. The sun was now setting in along the horizon by the time they reached the Lurman village and informed Anakin of the details. When told of the cages, Anakin's mood went dark. "Just when I thought my opinion of the Separatist can't reach any lower."

"How are his injuries?" Aayla asked the Lurmen healer.

"He's still too injured to move. Same with some of the others," Wag Too stated.

"We may not have a choice. Our presence here endangers the villagers." Master Kota turned to the clone Commander. "Inform the others to break camp and make their way out of the village and hide out in the tall grass."

"Yes, sir."

"Commander, make sure we take everything we brought with us. The Separatists mustn't know we were here," Anakin informs the officer.

"Any sign of us being here, the Separatists will not hesitate to raze this village to the ground." Grimly spoke the Twi'lek.

The clone does so and notifies the others to begin packing up. Within half an hour, they were all hiding in the tall grass away from the village. The village chief looked relieved that they were going and verbalized it to the Jedi.

Ruby heard it but kept her mouth shut. As much as she wanted to protest that they were here to help them. She took a step back and focus on helping the wounded to hide. And not a moment too soon as a Droid ship appears over the horizon.

Ruby soon linked up with Captain Rex and Master Kota as the two observed the Separatist coming in. Aayla joined in a few moments later, telling that Anakin and Ahsoka were leading Ruby's men and clone troopers out of sight.

"What do you see, Captain?" Kota asked next to him as the clone used his helmet's bannocks'.

"Droid Dropship, sir," Rex responded. "Nothing big, but since it's a dropship, no doubt a Separatist Cruiser is up above us in orbit."

"That's not good," Ruby said.

They watched as the Dropship land not too far from the village outskirts and deploy a few squads of B-1 and B-2 battle droids. After deploying, they soon parted and letting a plumped and fat male Neimoidian with several other individuals.

The teen looked through her baby's scoop to see the enemy leader walk out to meet the village chief. His appearance was very underwhelming. "That's the guy in charge?" Ruby said skeptically at the waddling fat alien.

They soon noticed the Lurmen Chieftain drew closer while the Male Neimoidian.

They couldn't hear what they were talking about but noticed the droids closing in on the village. What followed took an incredible amount of willpower to not go out and attack them as they ransacked through the Lurmen village.

Many Lurmen cowered and ran in fear while the droids breaking apart various homes and held the citizens at gunpoint in case if any of them were to do anything stupid. But it was difficult for them to do such things, given their peaceful upbringing.

The Huntress felt sick to her stomach as she was forced to sit back and watch this happen. It was not something that was in her nature to watch this go on.

If Ruby hadn't been wearing her clone helmet, the others would see her eyes literally glow with a silver light birthed from her anger. But through the Force was another thing.

With Aayla and Rahm being so close, their gaze shifts to Ruby as they felt a great change in the Force coming from the teen.

'By the Force, what is this I'm feeling from Ruby? It's like her whole being has turned into a hot furnace. Not with dark intent but light. I've never felt such raw emotion,' Aayla Secura thought as she looked in awe at Rwby.

Master Kota looked at the girl with much curiosity. 'This girl is strong with the light but her Force signature unlike anything else. I dare say it reminds me of the singing call of kyber crystals.' he reflected these thoughts. 'Something else to talk about to Skywalker or Kenobi later.'

They watched for nearly half an hour as the Droids rummage through the Lurmen village. Looking for any weapons or Republic contraband. Finding none, they returned to their leader and soon left for their ship.

As the Republic forces watch the Separatist ship leave. Ruby felt hurt that she didn't intervene and stopped those Droids. Reminding her of much of Beacon's fall. When the ship fell out of sight, the Jedi, Clones, and Huntress sighed in relief before backing away further in the grass.

In the tall grass over a vast distance away from the village, the Republic forces waited about bearing a visible emotion to what they witnessed earlier.

Pacing in his spot, Rex released a frustrated sigh. "I just can't figure out why the Lurmen couldn't stand up and fight back. Lack of pride, I guess."

"More like lack of courage." Came Ahsoka's dry remark.

"Sometimes it takes courage to stick to one's beliefs, young Padawan." Aayla sadly lectured. "As any Jedi well knows…."

Ahsoka could only look away, pulling out a small ration bar and bitterly eating it.

Veena then interjects. "What's done is done, Jedi. All we can do now is go forward."

"I agree," Anakin said as he solely got up. "We should plan our next move. Hitting that Separatist base."

"General, you shouldn't," Captain Rex said as he went to his Commander's side for support. "You're still too injured, sir."

"I'm fine, Rex," the Jedi assured his friend before addressing the group. "Our two primary objectives in this, taking out that base and either securing transport off the planet or getting in contact with the Republic." He then noticed Ruby raising her hand somewhat hesitantly. Yes, Ruby? You have something?" he asked.

All eyes went to the redhead, making her shrink a little at the attention. "Just a thought that occurred to me...about the Lurmen village."

"Yes?"

"This was a colony, right? Like they moved here from their world?" Ruby asked Aayla, to which the Jedi nodded.

"Yes, they originally came from the planet Mygeeto. Why do you ask?" The Jedi knight said, wondering where this conversation was heading.

Ruby shrunk down further and started poking her fingers together in what could be sure was embarrassment. "Well...where I come from, a colony or settlement usually has contact with the Kingdom they came from. So wouldn't the people in the village still have a way to contact their families on their home world?"

Everyone looked confused for a moment before one by turned into shock. Bly and Rex looked at one another. With their helmets on, one could not see their faces but could imagine their expressions. Ayla and Ahsoka's jaws dropped as they looked dumbfounded at the scythe wielder. Veena looked at her Captain with a surprised face. Kota rubbed had his hand right hand up to his and rubbed his brow with his thumb and index finger. Anakin blinked at the suggestion, having not thought of asking for the Lurmens help with that problem.

"Did no one ask that we could use it to call for help?" Ruby looked at the group and received no answer. "Well, crap...Veena, take the team, head back to the village, and stay out of sight. Alert us if those Droids come back," Ruby ordered.

The former Republic Sergeant nodded and returned to her team.

"I'll do the same," Rex quickly added. "Keep an eye on the boys as well. Better to be safe than sorry." Following quickly behind the Tholothian.

The Jedi, Clone officer, Ruby, and her team traveled back to the Separatists outpost for another recon assessment. The group went back to the tree from earlier with everyone else to scout out the enemy outpost. And with them high above the ground, the group stood atop the large tree branches with the large separatist base off in the distance. In the distance, New droid dropships coming in and offloading equipment and more battle droids.

What had been a company or two of droids just been beefed up to a battalion, with armor support of AAT tanks.

"They really buffed themselves up," Veena murmured.

"This could be a challenge," Master Kota muttered. Kota eyed the base before spotting out from the corner of eyesight. He saw Anakin shudder and held a hand over his bandages.

"And here comes the welcome wagons," Skywalker commented, seeing the train of Droid tanks rolling out of the parked enemy ship.

"Are recovered enough for this, Skywalker?" Rahm asked.

"... With all that? I think I could take on…one at a time."

Kota looked at the Knight with slight amusement. 'Stubborn...just like Master Kenobi said.'

"Look there." Bly pointed forward at the front of the base. "What's that they're dragging out of the base?"

The droids and their leader came out with one of the AAT tanks equipped with a particular canon mount.

"Looks like that artillery cannon you mentioned is all ready to go," Anakin said to the group. Using a pair of binocs to look closely at the base and spotted what he hoped to find. "They've got a shuttle behind the dropship," Anakin said. "That's gonna be our ticket outta here."

"Not gonna be easy, General," Bly said. "They've really got all their blind spots and formations in check. And there's still that new canon of theirs."

"Then we'll need to slip into their base tonight, take the ship and blow up the base along with that weapon of theirs."

"What does that thing even do?" Ahsoka asked.

"As much of a weapons fan that I am, I'm okay with not knowing what this one does," Ruby announced. "We should wait till nightfall before going to steal a ship."

"Agreed," Kota said in support. "We should also send only a few to retrieve the ship. Too many, and we'll risk getting caught and sound the alarm."

*KABOOM*

Everyone looked towards the base and realized it was their new weapon firing. The group watched a large payload fired into the air and screeched across the vast distance. It eventually plummeted towards the earth as it neared the center of the enormous area of tall grass.

Upon impact, a blast soon went off with a napalm-like flame quickly spreading across the field. In time at all, the fire spread across the land, leaving nothing untouched. When it was over, nothing but ash and chard bones from unsuspecting animals.

The group stares in horror at the scorched earth the Separates weapon left behind. Their mission had gotten a bit more complicated.

Night fell over the land, leaving a handful of light sources being seen in the valley. Among the tall grass outside the Separatist base, the Republic forces hid from the moving lights.

They made a plan, and it was simple, disable the Separatist's communications, secure the enemy shuttle, and anything else they can get their hands on. And if possible, disable the Separates' new weapon.

Using the night as cover, distracting some of the perimeter portal Droids with force techniques and clever timing. The Jedi, Clone Commander, made it through the outer wall.

Ruby, Aayla, and Ahsoka took the chance to scale up the wall. The Jedi using their natural athleticism and Force-enhanced jumps to get over and into the base, while the Huntress used her Semblance.

The three cut down multiple droids off the upper levels of the base down to the ground. Some of the droids noticed though it was too late as the small strike force leaped into action.

The Jedi sliced them apart before any could raise the alarm. Ruby jumped down and moved towards the gate. Hitting the controls and opening the door for Anakin, Rahm, and Bly.

Bly and Ruby tackled droids and tear (or ripped in Ruby's case) their heads off while Anakin and Rahm simply sliced through them with their lightsabers. Aayla and Ahsoka made quick work dispatching the remaining droids in the base along the wall.

When they meet up with the others, Ahsoka noticed something wrong. "Guys… I do not see the cannon or its ammo." Ahsoka reported.

"The separatists must've moved them back to their ship." Rahm guessed with a displeased tone as he eye's the big troopship. "This complicates things."

"We'll be back for it later," Anakin said. "Right now, let's get to that shuttle."

The group nodded and moved towards their ticket off-world. As they near the ship, Bly spotted rather valuable. "Look, sir, shield generators!"

"Take them with us, Commander!" Master Kota ordered. "Those will undoubtedly help in our fight."

Commander Bly and Ashoka went to recover the shield generators while the rest went inside the ship. The lock the Separatists had on its computers was rudimentary for Skywalker to bypass. In no time, the ship was theirs. Once everyone was on board, Anakin got the ship off the ground and took off into the night sky.

The Lurmen village was up and about this morning, though there was evident tension in the air.

Wag Too had received word of the coming Separatist forces and told the rest of the villagers.

A task that was noticed by both his father and the other Republic soldiers stationed in secret around the village. With Sergeant Veena and Captain Rex reveal themselves, much to Wag's relief and bitterness to the Chief.

To make matters worse for the leader of the Lurmen, a Separatist shuttle was seen coming straight for them, with the Clones taking up positions around the ship as it landed.

They quickly lowered their guns upon seeing their Jedi commanders, Clone leaders, and Huntress stepping out from the ship.

"Why have you returned?" The Chief angrily exclaimed. "I thought I made it clear that we do not want you here in the village."

"Father…" Wag Too wanted to argue against his father, but Aayla beat him to it.

"I'm sorry, Chieftain, but we must be here," Aayla said straight away before raising her voice for the rest of the Lurmen to hear.

"Everyone, please listen to us. We must get you all to safety now. The Separatists are coming to raze this village to the ground and your lives with it. You must all go immediately."

"We will not abandon our homes." Te Wa-Kaa stubbornly refused.

"But you'll die if you stay here!" Ruby pleaded."

"If it's to be our destiny to die in your war, then so be it." The stubborn Chief turns to walk away only to stumble back in surprise when the red cape girl was now in front of him. Many of the Lurman that saw the human girl moved and turned into flowers was in awe.

The Lurman Chief looked up and saw the disappointing glare the girl gave him. "As a leader of your people, you have to protect your people."

"We will not be drawn into your war!" The Chief declared again.

The Huntress grinds her teeth. "Forget the war; I care about your people!"

The Elder took a step back at the forceful response the girl gave. Many of the villagers had gathered as they watched the human girl speak to the Elder. "I was taught that when you're a leader that it's no longer about yourself. That you can never fail. Even if you failed in the past, you can't fail now because you're not failing yourself anymore. You're failing those who follow you." Ruby walked past the old Lurman with an aura of disappointment tailing behind her.

Ruby then stops before looking back to give one last glance at the old man. "Believe what you want to believe. But always put your people before yourself. Everything else comes after." She turns back and walks past the Jedi and clones as they couldn't help but look at the girl.

Looking back at each other, the Republic entourage immediately mobilized to get the village adequately defended with the upcoming assault. While the Lurman Chief and the villagers stared silently at that young human.

Between the Jedi with their clones and Ruby's men, they set up a few lines of defense. Mainly putting up two rows of giant seed pods to act as walls.

In the village, Te Wa-Kaa was clearly upset upon seeing the larger people making a barricade with the giant seed pods. He wanted to verbally reprimand them but thought against it when he saw the young girl standing on top of the wall. He grumbled to himself and walks away.

His son stares at his father with disappointment before walking up to the Jedi. "I greatly appreciate what you're doing." He then sighed. "And as much as I want to help, I'm afraid I can't do much."

Ahsoka questioned the chieftain's son. "How so?" Curious about his answer.

"My father is strong-willed and set in tradition." Wag Too looked over at the Tortuga as he continued. "My people are split down the middle. Most share the same beliefs as I do and the rest follow my father. We've been raised under a strict code. Only recently have the majority of us started questioning it."

Anakin, who overheard these words, couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "You have no idea how much I know exactly what you're going through." Ahsoka looked to her Master in confusion by what he meant. "Sad to say, but we've got to respect our beliefs… even if we don't really agree with it."

Master Kota spread the clones and Ruby's men between the two walls, demonstrating his capabilities as a General. With what they were facing, it would be a hard fight.

Standing next to Ruby on the seed pods was Captain Rex with his binocs looking in the distance. He looked along the horizon for the Separatists as they would be coming soon. Very soon, he did spot them in the distance and stay put.

"The clankers are holding their positions," Rex informed them.

"They won't attack us head-on, not if they can hit us from long-range first. If we can withstand that weapon, we'll draw them in," Anakin stated.

"That's what those shield generators are for?" Ruby asked.

"Precisely."

*KABOOM*

"Incoming!" Veena warned as she and the others readied themselves.

"Power the shields!" Yelled out Skywalker.

And not a moment too soon as the Clones finished setting up the shield generators. With a final button stroke, pillars of energy shot out from the devices and formed a giant barrier around the village edges. As soon as the barrier's edge hit the ground, the Defoliator round struck the dirt and unleashed its scorching capabilities. It spread like wildfire until it came to a stop at the energy shields that protected the village.

The shield held off the flames, making Ruby's men and some of the clones cheer in success.

Anakin wore a smug grin. "Now they have to get their hands dirty and meet us face to face."

Over on the Separatist side, General Lok Durd was not happy. Seeing his weapon fail against the Jedi's shield was not what he wanted to see this morning. Now he had no choice but to attack directly. Seeing the number of defenders the settlement had, sending one squad of Droids would not do. He needed to get this done now.

"All squads, prepare to charge!"

"Prepare to charge." A B1 battle droid said.

Ahsoka looked a bit worried at what she was seeing the column of Battle Droids advancing on them. "That's a lot of clankers."

Master Kota stood his ground as he watched the Droids advance. "Everyone, hold this line! Protect both the generators and villagers."

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Barked out various Clones while the Jedi nodded.

"Stand ready!" Rahm ordered, igniting his lightsaber with Anakin, Ahsoka, and Aayla doing the same.

Stepping out of the protective shield barrier, Ruby and half the clones started firing at the advancing droids.

The four Jedi advance with their lightsabers out, deflecting blaster shots before colliding with the attacking droids, decapitating many.

Rahm was like a hammer on an anvil. Crushing droids left and right with heavy lightsaber swings.

Anakin used his potential with the Force, using it to pull droids towards him to slice up.

Ashoka just sprints down the middle while staying low to the ground, making herself a smaller target. Every droid she passes, she swipes horizontally to cut them down at their legs.

Aayla stood and worked with Bly and her Clone Troopers, primarily their defense, while delivering the firepower.

Ruby was like a storm as she unleashed her Crescent Rose in its Scythe form and using her speed Semblance. The combat targeting program inside the battle droids could not keep up before they were cut down.

Despite the number of Droids they were taking down, they just kept on coming. A few of the clones were hit when more and more got through their Jedi defenders.

"That's it, we have to retreat!" Commander Bly ordered.

The remaining clones grabbed their wounded and retreated back into the shield and over the seed pods.

At the second wall of seed pods, Veena and her team and the other half the clone force stood ready to defend. Many of these clones were still wounded from the crash but could still carry a blaster.

When Veena saw Commander Bly and Captain Rex with their soldiers hoping over the seed pod wall.

"They've breached the shield!" Bly called out.

"Find cover, get ready, here they come!" Veena sounded off. She and many of the clones lay prone over the edges of the pods. Many took aim while some helped their brothers up over the giant seeds. Blaster fire echoed behind the first wall before a couple of expositions destroyed a few pods and made a hole. "Focus fire on that hole."

The defenders unleashed a wave of plasma on the droids destroying many in the first wave. The ones that survived return fire, making a few clone duck for cover. The end result turned the firefight into a slugger fest between the two, with neither giving ground. With both shield generators protected by the clones and the pods, no harm was done to them.

Outside the dome, the four Jedi and Huntress were fighting for their lives as the Separatist army seemed endless. Rahm swung his green lightsaber that bisected a Super Battle Droid before turning to the Ahsoka and Ruby as they fought together.

"Padawan! Huntress! Return to the village! Protect the generators!" Rahm ordered as he cuts down another droid. The teens complied and turned for the village. "Skywalker with me! We're going for that weapon!" Anakin nodded to the Master.

Ruby and Ahsoka slashed their way through the droids for the opening in the seed pods. Aayla saw the two and followed with them in thinning out the number of droids attacking the clones.

When they got through the shield and the blown opening of seed pods, they were surprised to see only a few Droids left. The defenses of the second wall had held firm. Commander Bly and Captain Rex were rallying the men at the walls flanks for a counter charge. It wasn't long for the three groups to charge into the droids.

The command droid looked through his binocs to see Anakin and Rahm charging their position.

"Sir, two Jedi are approaching!" The droid said to the Neimoidian.

Lok Durk looked a bit afraid at the sudden development. "Then blast them, you idiot!" He ordered.

The Separatist tanks fired their main guns at the Jedi. The Master and Knight easily sidestepped and dodge the cannon fire and engaged the droids guarding the weapon. Rahm used the Force to jump into the air before bringing his lightsaber down on the droid Commander's tank barrel, disabling it before beheading the Commander. Anakin cut through a pair of B2 Supers before jumping on the Defoliator, running along its hull with his lightsaber cutting into it, before slashing down on its breach point. Destroying the weapon for good.

Lok Durk panicked and tried to make a run for it.

Rahm gave a dead-panned look to the fat Neimoidian. He reached out into the Force and pulled hard, flinging the overweight alien back to them, and landed face-first at their feet. When Lok looked up, he saw Rahm Kota's green lightsaber hovering relatively close to his face. Looking past that, he saw both Rahm and Anakin standing over him.

"Oh...um, mercy?"

Anakin keyed his commlink. "The weapon is disabled."

Over in the village, Rex responded to his General. "Copy that, sir."

With an attack on three sides, the Droids were quickly rounded up and destroyed. As the last one fell, the clones cried out in trump of their victory.

The Clones were busy with Bly and Rex sending out messages to any Republic ships capable of picking up their signal while the rest simply stood out of their way. Some troopers were helping the Lurman with cleaning up the battlefield. Those that were injured in the fighting were visiting Wa Too's hut for medical treatment.

Of the thirty-two clone troopers from the 327th, three died defending the village, with another six wounded in the fight. Rex's men from the 501st had survived along with Ruby's men.

As for the Huntress, Ruby stood just outside the village where they stacked the seed pods looking out across the scorched grown. She knew that the land would recover and things would go back to normal for the villagers. But her thoughts were troubled by the weapon the Separatist used. Such a weapon should never have to be used.

Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the Lurman stood beside her. Looking down, she saw Wag Too sporting a happy smile.

"Once again, we are utmost thankful for your help." Wag Too said to the Huntress. "Many of my fellow villagers were ready to step in and assist you. Neither of us would be standing if it weren't for you."

Ruby smiled back in kind. "I only did what I believe is right. Defending those that couldn't." Taking a look at the village, seeing a Lurman family embrace in a hug and the Village Chief conversing with the Jedi. "It's like the stories I grew up on. Helping others fight evil. What will your people do now?" Ruby asked as she focused back on the Lurman.

"With the Separatist gone, life would return to normal for us just how we like it," Wag Too said.

"Nothing wrong with that." A sound of a great wind brushes through the air, making everyone lookup.

High in the air, Three Venators were clear to see with Gunships already coming on down.

"Time for me to go."

"Aye, it's been interesting meeting you all."

"Same. I'll be sure to come to visit if I'm nearby."

As Ruby, Veena, and her team stepped off the dropship, they were met with the sound of cheering. Taken back by the sound of excitement, Ruby looked and saw the members of her crew. They each wore expectant smiles that stretched across their faces, happy that their Captain has returned.

The excitement was infectious as smiles spread across their faces. Ruby especially as she saw Flisk and Julie walking up to her. The Wolven and Twi'lek walked up to her with warm welcomes.

"Knew the void wouldn't hold you down, Ruby," Julie greeted.

"Welcome back, Captain," Flisk said with a small smile. "From the look of things, you've been on an adventure without us." Flisk pointed at the CIS Sheathipede-class shuttle that the team flew in with. After talking with the Jedi, they allowed the ship and anything from the battle planetside to be concerned, 'spoils of war.' Which adds on top to the payment Ruby received.

Ruby rubbed her head innocently. "More like a side quest. So how did my ship perform in a space battle?" She crossed her arms and looked at her two officers.

"She performed well," Flisk answered.

"We took a few hits, but our armor held up. Going to need a day to bag out the dents we received," Julie said.

"Well, you'll get it done. In the meantime," Ruby raised her voice for everyone to listen, "there's a lightly defended Separatist base down on the planet with a bunch of free stuff. Who wants in on that?" She asked.

A roar of cheers echoed the ship was the answer.

Anakin felt glad to be back on his ship. That recent adventure took a lot out of him. After reporting to the Jedi Council about their unexpected journey, he went to medical to check his injuries. He was very much healed at this point, but his ship's doctor told him to take a day to rest, to which Admiral Yularen agreed and assured the Jedi knight that he has things under control. With all of his duties covered, Anakin looked forward to nice rest on his bed.

The Jedi Knight walked down the corridor that led to his cabin, getting salutes and welcomes from clones that passed by.

When he turned the last corner, he stopped in slight surprise at who was standing outside his door.

"Master Kota? Aayla?"

The Jedi Master was leaning against the wall when he heard his name before turning to look at the Knight. While the Twi'lak stood beside him. "Skywalker, may we speak in private?" Aayla asked