I sat next to Anakin in the teepee as Wag Too treated his wounds. Aayla was standing the far corner. Commander Bly came in and Anakin struggled to prop himself up onto his elbows.
"General?" Bly addressed Anakin.
"Yes, Commander." Anakin said.
"We got a Separatist ship incoming."
"This is neutral space." Wag Too protested.
"It won't be neutral for long, not if the Separatists have their way." Anakin said. He tried to sit up even more but grunted in pain and I immediately followed my instincts and placed my hands on his arm and shoulder to steady him. "Help me up."
"No, Master." I denied and Anakin looked at me in shock. "I'm sorry, Master, but you're still too injured to move."
"What menace have you brought to our village now, Jedi?" The head Lurmen snapped at us as he entered the teepee.
"Father, you can't blame them." Wag Too said.
"He's right." I said. "The Separatists don't even know we're here."
"And they can't know." Aayla said. "We've got to hide."
"Your presence here endangers us." The Lurmen said. "You must leave before your enemies find you."
"But you'll need our help." I protested. "You can't fight them alone."
"We will not fight them at all. We would rather die than to kill others."
"You're going to surrender? But how can you—"
"Aroara, stop." Anakin ordered behind me. "If the Lurmen want to remain neutral, we won't force them into war."
"See to it that they leave." The Lurmen said. "I must see what our new visitors want."
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Wag Too packed us a bag of food while I helped Anakin to his feet, pulling his left arm over my shoulders to steady him. Rex got his right side. Wag Too led the way to the outskirts of the village and back into the tall grass. Blasters sounded behind us and I looked over my left shoulder to see droids shooting in the air as they tore apart the village.
"Why are they tearing apart our homes?" Wag Too inquired. "We've done nothing to them."
"Violence—that's what those droids are programmed for." I said. "Can't we do anything?"
"No, and if we are discovered, all of the Lurmen will be slaughtered." Aayla said.
"We'll be okay, if we make it to the tall grasses." Anakin instructed. I sighed heavily but nodded my understanding as I continued to guide Anakin to the grass.
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"You know, I can't figure those villagers not wanting to fight." Bly scoffed. I carefully set Anakin on the ground and sat down next to him, pulling out a fruit from my bag and handing it to him. "No pride, I guess."
"I call it no courage." I corrected him as Anakin took the fruit from me.
"Sometimes it take courage to stick to one's beliefs, young Padawan, as any Jedi well knows."
"Well their beliefs are keeping them hiding in the dark with fear not wanting to defend themselves. They would allow the Separatists to come in and destroy their homes and kill—"
"Aroara." Anakin snapped and I hung my head in shame. "We need to find a ship, and I think the only one around here belongs to the Separatists. We know they have a landing ship. They might have a shuttle."
"Sir, you talking about stealing from one of the clankers?" Rex asked. "Count me in."
"We need to find them first." Aayla said. Something caught my eyes from the grass in front of me.
"I think we just did." I said as I spotted a small flying droid.
"Blast it!" Anakin ordered. Bly and Rex shot at it but missed as it dodged and flew back in the direction that it came from. "Jam its signal!" I raced after it and because my blood was mixed with dog, I caught up with it with ease and sliced it in half with my lightsaber.
"I wonder where it was headed."
"Maybe we can see them from up there." Aayla said as she came up behind me with Bly and Rex.
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A strong presence of Anakin washed over me as he walked up behind me.
"I hope you're feeling better, Master, 'cause look what we found." I said, handing him the binoculars so he could look at the Separatist base in the distance.
"Heh, I'm getting stronger all the time, Snips. . ." Anakin laughed as he took the binoculars from me and looking through them. ". . . but I'm not sure I'm ready for that. That shuttle's our ticket off this rock."
"It's not gonna be easy, sir." Bly said. "There don't seem to be any flaws in their security line."
"Apparently the Separatists have a new toy. See if you can get a closer look."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll go with you, Commander." Rex said. Anakin leaned against a branch for support as watched Bly and Rex shimmy down the tree and walked with stealth through the tall grass. Two battle droids from the base began to walk in their direction.
"Uh-oh." Anakin muttered. "Stay down, boys." Something shot from a cannon in front of the base and a missile whistled through the air at the two droids and towards Bly and Rex. The missile hit the ground, causing a large, loud explosion and a fire ring began to roll in our direction. Aayla jumped down the tree from branch to branch with me behind her. Rex fired his grappling hook at the tree and swung up onto our branch but Bly tripped causing his grappling hook to land short of the branch. Aayla grabbed a vine and swung from the branch and grabbed Bly, pulling him back up onto the branch.
"That's some toy." I said, running over to the tree trunk and helped Anakin as he slid down the trunk to the branch we were on. "It took out every living thing."
"Where are they off to now?" Aayla inquired as we watched droid armies beginning to leave the base.
"They must be going back to the Lurmen village." Anakin said. "There's nothing else in that direction."
"Those villagers won't stand a chance."
"First we'll take out the droids' communication station. Then, after we get a shuttle, we'll go back and help the Lurmen."
"But Tee Watt Kaa said he doesn't need our help." I reminded him."
"There's a difference between pulling innocents into a war and leaving them to extinction." He turned his back to me and I followed him and Aayla down the trunk of the tree.
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I followed Aayla through the darkness, sticking low to the ground as we raced through the open land towards the base, dodging the spotlights every time that it came near us. Anakin, Bly and Rex stayed behind in the grass, distracting the battle droids around the base. I took the lead and climbed up the wall of the base and flipped over the top.
"Get to the door." Aayla whispered to me. "I'll handle the droids." I nodded and stayed in the shadows as I ran along the wall to the door, opening it to allow Anakin, Bly and Rex in.
"Shield generator, sir." Bly said.
"Let's take them with us." Anakin said. Bly and Rex grabbed the shield generators as Aayla, Anakin and I boarded the cruiser. I took the pilot seat and Aayla took co-pilot while Anakin stood behind me. I turned on the engines and pulled out of the base, heading back to the village.
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"Everyone, please." Aayla called to the Lurmen once we landed in the village and got off to face the curious Lurmen. "Please listen to me. The Separatist will be here in moments."
"What are you doing here?" Tee Watt Kaa demanded. "I told you not to return."
"I'm afraid the Separatists don't care whether you're in the war or not." Anakin said. "We need to get you to safety before they arrive."
"We will not abandon our homes."
"But they've got a new weapon." I explained. "It'll burn this place to a crisp. Is that what all of you really want?"
"If it is our destiny to be destroyed in your war, so be it."
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"Come on, guys, let's get these shield generators in place." Anakin ordered. We built a wall made of the pods around the village even against the Lurmens' wishes. Anakin walked over to a hole in the wall and tried to use the Force to move it but stopped, grunting in pain. I left Aayla's side and ran to his. I stretched out my hands towards the pod and felt the energy around it, grabbing it and pulling it to the spot that I wanted it to go to. I let go and looked up at Anakin who was staring at me in shock.
"What?" I asked.
"You just moved the pod by yourself."
"Yes?"
"You have a strong connection with the Force. Not many Padawans as young as you have that connection. You'll have an even stronger connection when you become a Jedi."
"Is that a good thing or bad thing?" Anakin didn't answer me. He just turned his back to me to see that the energy shield was surrounding the village.
"Pray, stop what you're doing." Tee Watt Kaa demanded as Aayla and I moved the last pod in place. "Stop building that wall. I did not ask you to defend us."
"This battle is inevitable." Anakin said. "You can stand by your beliefs, but let us stand by ours."
"Thank you for what you're trying to do." Wag Too said to me. "I'm sorry but I cannot help. My father is very strong-willed and set in tradition. Many others agree with me, but we were raised under a very strict code. We must respect it, even if we don't agree."
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"They're holding position." Rex informed Anakin.
"They're not going to charge us, not if they can hit us from long range first." Anakin said. "But if we can withstand that weapon, we'll draw them in."
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"Incoming!" Rex yelled as he jumped from the pods.
"Power up the shield." Anakin ordered and Bly and Aayla turned them, letting a blue shield cloaked over us. A missile from the sky whistled through the air and crashed into the ground a half mile away from the village. A wall of fire began to head towards us and I braced myself for the outcome. The fire hit the shield and traveled up the sides and over the shield causing an electronic humming. The fire died down and I sighed in relief. "Now they'll have to get their hands dirty and meet us face-to-face." Anakin and I stood side by side as we watched the first wave of battle droids head in our direction.
"That's a lot of clankers." I muttered.
"We got to stop them before they get through that shield." Rex and I walked through the shield with Aayla and Bly and Anakin in the middle of us. We pulled out our lightsabers while Rex and Bly pulled out their weapons. From the corner of my eye, I saw Anakin wince in pain as he held his lightsaber out in front of him. At all costs, I will protect him. Blasters began to fire at us and I blocked every fire as the three of us charge forward. I dove into the crowd of battle droids, slicing one after another, dancing my way through them. When I cleared my section of the wave, I stopped and looked frantically around for Anakin but found him getting done to clear his own section along with Aayla.
"That wasn't so tough."
"That was just the first wave." I looked behind me to see two more waves charging at us. I charged at them and twirled my lightsaber on my fingertips, cutting the droids in half as I past them. "Get back to the village. I'll take care of the new weapon." I opened my mouth to protest but Anakin was already taking off. I growled and turned my back on him to head back to the village.
"That's it." Rex shouted as Bly and him retreated back into the shield. "We have to retreat." A wave of droids entered the shield and shot down the generators, destroying the shield. Lurmen screamed all around me as they rushed back into their homes as the droids stormed through the village. I rushed from left to right, terminating the droids before they could hurt anyone. A group of Lurmen, led by Wag Too, headed towards a group of droids and started to wrap a rope around their legs. They pulled on the rope and I ran through the fallen line of droids, cutting off their heads as I passed them. Cheers and applause came from the Lurmen as we destroyed the last of the droids.
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"Thank you, Wag Too." Anakin said as Bly and Rex loaded stuff into the cruiser.
"Thank you." Wag Too corrected him. "Our village would certainly have been destroyed without your protection. Father, I was just offering the Jedi our thanks." Anakin and I turned to see Tee Watt Kaa walk up to us with Aayla behind us.
"Perhaps we do owe you thanks." Tee Watt Kaa said. "But I still wonder, at what cost?" Engines rumbled above us and I looked up to see three Republic cruisers heading towards us.