Chapter 6

Grievous's fighter dropped out of Hyperspace near the main Separatist fleet and base. Grievous pondered his failure and how Count Dooku would handle it. He found out when his ship's comlink went off, a flashy, blue image of the Count appeared in front of him. "General," he started in a flat tone. "How goes your mission with the agent?"

"Ah…well, you see count, I…" he began.

Dooku continued, "Because I have just received word from Lord Sideous that the Republic already had that certain agent on Coruscant. Not on your ship."

"It wasn't my fault, those stupid battle droids couldn't tell the difference between a Jawa and an Ithorian."

"I see. I take it you at least still have the other girl in custody."

Grievous went silent and looked down. "Most unfortunate," Dooku scowled.

"But…I," Grievous started.

"General," he interrupted. "I grow weary of your failures, I will not abide them much longer." The hologram vanished. Grievous snarled angrily.

The tractor beam gently set the Sheathipede shuttle down in the main hanger bay of the Resolute. Penny sighed with the knowledge that she and Bolt were finally safe. Although they were still unaware of who had even rescued them, but they, again, came to the conclusion that they meant them no harm and were only trying to get them home. Penny stood up to leave the shuttle, heart pounding, from one unfamiliar environment to the next, she thought. She calmed down with the thought that Bolt was with her. Ever since her father, Mark, had altered Bolt, Penny was always relaxed when Bolt was with her (even when he didn't have his abilities), with the knowledge that he would protect her no matter what. "Okay Bolt," she said, after finding enough courage to proceed. "Let's just do this." She moved towards the back of the ship, Bolt right by her side. Finding the button that opened the doors, Penny hesitated for a moment, "Okay girl, just relax. They're not going to hurt you, they just want to help," she whispered to herself. Bolt tilted his head slightly in confusion, wondering who she was talking to. Penny pressed the button and the doors slid aside and the ramp emerged from the floor, extending into the hanger. She cautiously looked out, surveying the area, she saw a variety of starfighters being operated on by clone troopers and technicians, she noted the larger one, an ARC-170, with a partially detached engine, along with Y-shaped bombers. Penny broke out of her fascination when she noticed many of the technicians had looked up from their duties and were staring at the enemy shuttle that had just landed, more specifically at the 12-year old standing in the doorway. She staggered for a moment wondering where to go. Then a trooper wearing blue armor, a pauldron, and battle skirt, with an antenna and cat-like eyes on his helmet approached her. Bolt growled again, but Penny gestured him away and stepped out of the shuttle. "Um...hi," she stammered, not knowing what else to say.

"Hey kid," the clone captain replied, removing his helmet revealing a bleached-blond, close cut head. "Are you alright? Gave us quite a scare there."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, don't worry, I just...relieved the pilots of duty."

Most of the surrounding clones chuckled at this, not because they didn't believe her, they just enjoyed the thought that even a kid could destroy clankers. Rex also chuckled, then continued, "Okay kid, now let's...wait, where's your friend?" he asked looking around for the other hostage described.

Penny then realized who he was referring to, "Oh, he's right here." She gestured down to the white shepherd at her side.

Rex stared down at Bolt for a moment, perplexed at the sight of a dog in the hanger. "Oh, uh...I see, well um, glad your okay and sorry you got mixed up in all of this, so..." Rex stuttered, now he was the one not knowing what else to say.

"We'd better get you home," finished trooper Coric, walking up behind Rex.

Rex regained himself, "Uh, right. I don't think we're too far from your home planet. We'll be under way in a little while, in the mean time...well," Rex ran all the possible scenarios of things she could do through his head. "Well, are you hungry?"

At the mention of food, Penny finally realized how hungry she was, having missed her meal in the hospital. "Yes. Yeah actually I am a little. They didn't really have food on the last ship."

"Well we have it here come on, I think we could all use a little grub, follow me."

Rex turned and began walking as the other clones gestured for her to go ahead of them. Penny limped behind Rex, still a little weak from her encounter with the good general. Bolt right at Penny's heels. She didn't worry about what they had to offer, she wasn't known to be picky, especially situations like this, and she didn't want to get in the way of this army or their war efforts. She just took comfort in the knowledge that it was all over, or so she thought.

A/N

Okay I know, not the greatest way to end a chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else.