Having once again returned, I will make a solemn promise to never abandon this story. It WILL be finished by Christmas. Anyway, here's the next chapter.

Anakin surveyed the troops with little enthusiasm. The army was crippled both in numbers and in morale. The men were mourning their slain brothers, and not even the scores of droids that they had taken with them could appease their pain. Heck, not even Master B'dard's spectacular slaying of the vulture droids had lifted their spirits. He and B'dard had given the troops no inkling as to what their plan was, and this troubled Anakin. The key to their plan was that a small task force could slip into Naantray undetected, but the more people who knew the plan, the more could squeal and ruin the plot. The plan was trite enough to begin with, and had none of Anakin's usual bravado. Even a tiny misstep on either side would spell their doom. Even worse, if Ahsoka failed her mission, then not only would he, the 501st, B'dard, and the 957th Nebula Corp be annihilated, but so would Master Choi, and he had, by any measure, the largest and best trained army on the planet. The thoughts weighed heavy on both Anakin and B'dard's mind. They had not even informed the Jedi Council of their plan. For all they knew, the Council could have assumed them dead and abandoned Koru Neimoidia for a later attack. The Separatist Holo-News was probably alive with this battle's result. So, here Anakin stood, on a small rise near the remaining AT-TEs, and surveyed what was probably the grimmest circumstance that he had ever encountered.

His emotions were not lost on B'dard. The Coway stood behind him, one hand pensively placed on his chin. "So, I assume that you wish not to tell the troops of our plan?"

Anakin nodded.

"It is most wise," said B'dard. "I fear though that the troops will rebel if we order them to march on. Bulq's offer was most generous, and I can feel the fear that my men harbor. They wish to make with all undue haste to the base-camp and summon an extraction. I do not blame them."

Anakin was despondent. Inside his head, he furiously grasped at some kind of idea to energize the troops. The ideas ranged from booze to Twi'lek dancers. Seeing as Twi'lek dancers were unavailable at present, and the affect of alcohol on a hoard of clones with empty stomachs would be unpredictable at best, disastrous at worst. So Anakin still had no ideas.

Behind him, B'dard seethed with wrath. "That filthy Weequay. He knew that his offer would spoil the pot, that is why he made it! If only I could get my hands on him!"

Anakin went rigid. An idea had just begun to formulate in his head.

B'dard remained oblivious and plowed on. "I know that I could beat him in a fight! The blithering, weak-minded, tumor-faced bag of Sith trash!"

Anakin felt a smile begin to spread across his face. This could be done with his usual bravado and brashness…

"I would knock him to his knees! He would beg for mercy and I would revel in it! I-"

B'dard stopped short. Anakin had suddenly sprung into motion. Moving with the self-confidence of a man who had just been elected to the office of Supreme Chancellor, Anakin descended from the rise and began to tromp through the mud toward the mass of clones below. Confused, B'dard followed. The younger Jedi was like a mag-lev train; nothing short of a meteor would so much as delay him from his purpose…whatever it was. Growing more and more confused with each step that they took, the Coway waved awkwardly at the clones who gave Anakin the crazy stare, hoping that he looked less clueless than he actually was.

"TECH!"

Anakin howled the name as they approached the communications center. The clones were presently in the process of disassembling it for transport and bug-checks. Their work stopped short as Anakin neared, and one clone in particular raised his helmeted head. "Sir?"

"Do you still have a comms relay up?"

Tech, even with the helmet, was visibly confused. "I was breaking them down for transport, as you ordered…"

"Do you still have one up?" Anakin seemed to be growing impatient.

Tech cast a nervous glance at B'dard. B'dard, though just as confused had at least some curiosity as to what exactly the Jedi Knight had planned, so he nodded in approval at Tech.

"Yessir, we have Unit Alpha-thirty-sigma still up but-"

"Get me a channel into Naantray, trooper!"

All activity froze. Everyone was just as incredulous as B'dard was.

Anakin gave a stern but jubilant smile to Tech. "We can do that, right?"

Tech nodded uncertainly. "Bulq left us with a frequency to use when we were ready to accept his term-"

"Then patch me through!" Anakin cried. "And put me on broad-display. I want the whole army to see this."

For a moment, no one moved.

"That would mean NOW!"

At B'dard's order, the comms station sprang to life as all of the wiring was re-plugged and routers sorted. Anakin strode off, and B'dard, after ascertaining that the troops would continue their work after he was no longer watching, followed. Catching up to the Jedi, Anakin gave a gracious smile. "Thanks for the assist back there Master."

B'dard nodded slowly. "Of course Skywalker, but do not tell me that you intend to comply with Bulq's demands?"

Anakin gave a wry smile that bordered on evil. "Just wait and see."

Somehow, B'dard did not like the look of this.

XXXXX

The knock on the door was most unwelcome to Sora Bulq. He had been in the midst of a rather pleasant meditation involving visions of Nute Gunray's head rolling on the floor.

"Enter," he growled.

DE-556 entered cautiously. "Sir, we have an incoming transmission from the Jedi."

This piqued his interest. "The Jedi?"

"Yes sir," replied the battle droid. "They say that they have a message for you."

Sora stood, a small half-smile on his face. Brushing a few folds out of his robes, the Weequay stood. "Then let us not keep them waiting."

With a smoothly uttered, "Shall we," both Bulq and the droid exited the room and crossed the base to the control center. The room itself looked like it might have been harvested from the bridge of the Invisible Hand. Grievous' prized warship was, however, otherwise occupied, razing a planet somewhere in the Outer Rim, so this was not the actual bridge. Like the starship's bridge, this command center jutted out of the main building, and gave a commanding view of the surrounding country-side. The local star had just begun to dip below the horizon, staining the sky…green?

Sora shook his head with disgust. The miracle of modern industry…soot that turns the sky green.

Despite this, Sora would not let his triumph over the Jedi be diminished by a discoloration of the atmosphere. With a nod to the droid in charge of communications, the hologram projector in the center of the room whirred to life. The insolent youth known as Anakin Skywalker and the esteemed-yet-disfigured Coway Jedi Master B'dard Tone resolved before him. Both of their faces were neutral, but Sora could not help a smug smile from crossing his face. "Jedi," he said, his voice like the smoothest fabric. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Skywalker crossed his arms. "I have a message for you Weequay. About your surrender…"

Sora could feel it coming. That inevitable phrase that, now how it was said, despite adjectives or structure, said in Basic, Huttese, or Ryl, roughly translated always came to: "I surrender, you win. I hate you for it, but I must yield." It brought back memories of training session with the lesser Jedi in the temple. Always so confident. Always so optimistic that they would be the one to beat master Bulq. Always put back in their place by a practice-saber to the-

"You can blow it out your backside!"

The room went dead silent. Every droid suddenly froze, and slowly turned to watch the proceedings. Bulq's smile froze on his face. This could not be right… The Weequay looked past Anakin to see B'dard, looking every bit as stunned as the Dark Jedi felt. He obviously had no idea what to make of the situation either. "I beg your pardon, Master Jedi?"

Anakin had now assumed the smug smile. "I have considered your offer, and after much deliberation…ah, who am I kidding? I didn't even have to think about it. I was never going to accept. I mean, really, what did you expect me to do, run off with my robes hitched up around my knees and hope that the Republic would bail us out?"

"Ahm…"

Before Sora could say anything more comprehensive, Anakin barreled on. "And don't get me started on 'you lost,' and all that! You might have won the battle, but we willwin the war!"

Was he mistaken, or could Sora hear the clones in the background begin to cheer?

"And as to our 'fraction of us that remain,' we could take you and Naantray with half the men that we have now! I would like to see you try to beat us!"

That was definitely cheering in the background. However supportive the troops were, B'dard was the polar opposite. Every word out of Skywalker's mouth added to a seemingly horrified look that was now plastered across his face.

As if sensing this, Anakin turned to face B'dard, a devilish smile on his face. "How did you describe Master Bulq earlier today, B'dard?"

"A blithering, weak-minded, tumor-faced bag of Sith trash," B'dard weakly responded.

Anakin nodded with satisfaction, and gave a now insufferably smug smile to Bulq. "I couldn't have put it better myself Master, thank you!"

Whatever Anakin was on, he obviously had not shared, because B'dard just nodded weakly in response.

"So, in conclusion," Anakin said, facing Bulq once more, "I thank you for your precious time. I'll be at your door in a few days. See you then…tumor-face!"

The hologram dissolved and left an eerie quiet.

556 made, in hindsight, the foolish decision to approach Bulq. "Sir?"

And with a howl of rage, Bulq spun, activated his blood-red shoto and decapitated 556 in a single, almost graceful arc. "COMMANDER!"

Said droid gave an uncertain squeak in response.

"Gather the troops!" Bulq roared. "When they get here, not one will be left alive! I want every square inch of open soil made into a mine-field, every parapet fortified, every shield-generator up and running by the time they get here! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!"

"Roger-roger," came the faint reply.

XXXXX

"DO YOU HAVE A DEATH-WISH SKYWALKER!?"

B'dard was livid, and Anakin couldn't blame him. To his credit, the Coway had kept quiet all the way to the command tent, but it was rather amusing to watch him fly off the handle like this.

"BULQ WILL RAZE US AND YOU KNOW IT! WE DON'T EVEN HAVE ENOUGH FORCES TO SCRATCH NAANTRAY, MUCH LESS MAKE AN EFFECTIVE FRONTAL ASSAULT! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?"

Anakin had not lost his smug smile. With a sweep of his hand, he opened the tent flap and gestured to the troops that were now cheering and packing the gear as if they were going to be paid a million credits each for their efforts. Some were even whistling. "I did what you wanted Master, I got us the morale to move the troops!"

B'dard opened his mouth to rage some more, but the words died in his throat. Anakin was right. The troops would now, unquestionably, move to Naantray. They might even skip there.

Anakin laid a confident hand on B'dard's shoulder. "Besides, now Bulq will let us approach without attack! He wants to prove that he can beat us in an open fight."

"But he can!" B'dard cried. "Without so much as batting an eye, he can wipe us out like insects!"

Anakin patted B'dard's shoulder, much to the latter's annoyance. "You forget, we have both the covert ops and Master Choi on the way. Our victory is assured!"

"Assuming both get to the targets in time."

Anakin lifted the hand off B'dard's shoulder. "Have faith in the Force, Master. I have to go and brief Appo on our route. I suggest you do the same for Pulsar…unless you need to simmer some more in silence?"

The young Knight left the Coway alone in the tent, but not before flashing him a confident smile. For a moment, B'dard stood. Then, with a sigh and a shake of his head, he too exited the tent to find Pulsar. All of these confident, almost arrogant Jedi had been cropping up lately. Perhaps it was something in the water, but be it madness or brilliance, B'dard would soon find out.

Next chapter will return to Ahsoka, Codi, Rex, and Bastion. See y'all then!