(8-7-15: Yeah, I made quite a few changes in here, did a lot of moving around, more specifics, the usual technical stuff, you get the idea. Still fixing my blunder on Luke's abilities, so if in future chapters it still says his abilities are well...if his abilities fall short of what they should be, I'll get to that, I promise. One chapter at a time.)
Thank you once again for the reviews, I love seeing the E-mail that tells me I have another one. Thank you for reading this story, and for all the input as well :D here's the next chapter, which actually I was planning on posting last night with Chapter 7, but I didn't get it finished. But you have it now! Review and Enjoy!
In the silence that settled between the Jedi as the elevator made its ascent to where the chancellor was being held, Anakin once again found himself studying Luke. The young man had leaned casually against the elevator with a sigh, arms crossed over his chest as once again he slipped deep into his own thoughts. Anakin had noticed Luke tended to do that, and whenever he did the man would gain a solemn, sad air about him. Even now, that kind of air was settling in all around them in the elevator.
"Are you alright, Luke?" Anakin asked him, evaluating the man as he spoke.
Luke gradually came out of his stupor. "Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking."
"You seem to do that a lot."
Luke smiled wanly. "There's a lot to think about."
"Apparently," Anakin mused.
"So we're in: do we have a plan on getting out?" Luke asked them.
"Get out," Anakin said simply.
"This entire thing is improvised, isn't it?" Luke mused.
"I told you it was," Anakin snickered. "We tend to work at our best when we improvise."
Luke smiled. "I see."
The elevator jerked before coming to a complete stand-still, and a flash of annoyance passed across Anakin's face. "Now what?"
"The elevator must have malfunctioned," Obi-Wan muttered. He taped his comm link. "R2, come in. Come in, R2. R2, the elevator stopped working and we need you to get it working again. We need to go up. R2!"
Anakin was examining the ceiling. "Well, there's more than one way out of here," he muttered. He activated his lightsaber and started to cut a hole in the ceiling. Obi-Wan and Luke were left to dodge the falling sparks while Obi-Wan continued to try and contact R2. There was a groan and the chunk of ceiling Anakin had been cutting out fell, all of them jumping out of the way before Anakin jumped through the hole. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you follow him, Luke, and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble or get himself hurt," Anakin heard Obi-Wan mumble.
Luke probably nodded. "Sure thing."
Moments later Luke also jumped through the hole, finding Anakin standing on top of the elevator and inspecting the elevator shaft. Anakin glanced at him. "Obi-Wan's got you playing babysitter, huh?"
Luke chuckled. "I thought that's what you two were doing to me."
Anakin laughed a little before looking up. "We're headed for the top, but if we make a climb it doesn't look like it's going to be a pleasant one." He glanced at Luke with a smirk. "Though when is it ever easy?"
"Tell me about it," Luke mumbled.
A warning came to Anakin through the Force, and he looked sharply at Luke. "Jump!" he commanded, and they both clung to the edge of the next level as the elevator suddenly plummeted underneath them.
Anakin looked down at the fast dropping elevator, worry for his friend etched all over his face. As they dangled from the ledge, Anakin looked around for a way back up.
As if their situation wasn't bad enough, the doors slid open above them and Anakin heard Luke groan. Several battle droids looked down on them. "There they are. Hands up Jedi!"
Anakin scowled at them; like he could really put his hands up right now. He looked back down at the elevator, which he saw was now headed back up at a rapid speed.
"Luke!" he called firmly, nodding down towards the elevator.
Luke met his eyes, obviously catching his meaning. Anakin lifted one finger from the ledge. One. Then another. Two . . .
They both pushed off on three, falling down to land on top of the elevator as it rushed by the droids, taking out their heads as it rushed upwards. Anakin grinned at Luke. "Glad that's settled. Come on," he said, dropping back into the elevator. As he righted himself he found Obi-Wan's activated lightsaber pointed at him.
Obi-Wan relaxed and clicked it off. "Oh, it's you."
Luke dropped in after Anakin and Anakin scowled at Obi-Wan. "What was that all about?"
"Well I was trying to get R2—"
"Ah, ah, ah! No loose wire jokes!" Anakin scolded him, cutting Obi-Wan off.
"Did I say anything? I didn't say anything!" Obi-Wan protested, getting defensive.
Luke watched them, amused. "Are we done squabbling?" he asked them.
They turned back to him with blank expressions before they realized what he meant. Anakin scowled a little, though there was a light of amusement in his eyes, and Obi-Wan shook his head with a chuckle.
"Yes, yes; I guess we are," Obi-Wan said.
Luke snickered. "Alright then."
Anakin glanced at the floors ticking by. "We'll be there any second."
Luke nodded and Obi-Wan fixed him with a stern stare. "Stay behind us. Just in case we run into Dooku or Grievous. The last thing we want is for you to get caught in the crossfire and get hurt, or worse," Obi-Wan cautioned.
Anakin shifted uncomfortably. Luke would be rather vulnerable if they ran into the Separatist or Sith. And if it was discovered he was a...somewhat weaker Jedi they were trying to protect, he was sure that they would use that against the other two. It wasn't that Luke wasn't capable or anything, just he was lacking in some areas that Dooku was rather proficient in. It seemed—from what Luke had told them—he was used to people who fought with more brute strength then form, and hadn't run into many people that were all about technique like Dooku was; and Dooku was known to be one of the best lightsaber duelists of this age who had even beat Mace Windu. On the other hand, Anakin had noticed that Luke learned quickly, and could even adapt to other's fighting styles and sometimes learn their movements and techniques right there in the fight. He'd noticed it with some of the spars with Obi-Wan. He was a quick learner, and skilled in his own right, but Anakin wasn't willing to risk it. Dooku was...something else entirely.
Luke sighed softly. "All right."
They arrived at the level they wanted, and the doors slid open. Anakin's eyes scanned the room before meeting Obi-Wan's. "The chancellor's up there in that chair..."
"But there's no Dooku," Obi-Wan finished for him, frowning as the trio made their way forward.
As they all approached the chair the chancellor was in, Luke in tow behind the other Jedi, the chair spun around.
"Chancellor," Obi-Wan said, bowing.
"Are you alright?" Anakin asked him sincerely.
Anakin stiffened a little as he felt an onslaught of emotions he didn't expect come rushing towards him from Luke. He glanced back at the young man who was staring at Palpatine with a mixture of shock and horror on his face, eyes wide and his posture rigid. Through their developing Force Bond, Anakin felt panic, surprise, confusion, fear, and a pain that seemed to come from memories so dark Anakin would never have guessed Luke possessed them.
The Jedi scrambled to pull himself back together as he saw the look he was receiving from Anakin, his face somehow slipping back into a calm mask as his mental shields slammed up until Luke was able to dispel his feelings into the Force, after which he slowly re-lowered the shields. Anakin raised an eyebrow with a look he was sure plainly voiced his question. What was that?
Luke's eyes were guarded, and his every move was full of a tense caution. He just shook his head as if to say, later.
"Count Dooku," Palpatine murmured, causing the moment to break as all of Anakin's focus turned to the Sith Lord that had just entered the room.
Luke moved behind the other two Jedi, though Anakin did notice that he still kept his distance from Palpatine and wouldn't turn his back on the man. "This time we'll take him together," Obi-Wan murmured to Anakin.
"I was about to say that," Anakin said as he stood next to Obi-Wan.
"Get help, you're no match for him, he's a Sith Lord!" Palpatine said in a voice that held a few beginning notes of panic. Luke shot him a look that Anakin couldn't quite place, though it was gone just as fast as it had appeared.
Obi-Wan turned to smile at Palpatine. "Chancellor Palpatine; Sith Lords are our specialty." He glanced at Luke. "However Luke here will stay with you...for safe measure."
Did Luke just flinch? Anakin thought. This was something he'd look into the moment that he was alone with Luke.
Dooku approached the group, and Anakin and Obi-Wan met him halfway, leaving their robes on the ground where Palpatine and Luke were.
"Your swords please; we don't want to make a mess in front of the chancellor," Dooku said smoothly.
"You won't get away this time, Dooku," Obi-Wan replied steadily, activating his lightsaber. Anakin followed suit.
As Dooku activated his lightsaber the two advanced, pushing Dooku back as they engaged in combat for a few moments, a short blur of blue and red before Dooku disengaged, smiling smugly. "I've been looking forward to this."
"My powers have doubled since we last met, Count," Anakin said tersely, raising his lightsaber a little and glaring at the man.
"Good. Twice the pride, double the fall," Dooku taunted. Anakin sensed a twinge of worry from Luke directed towards him, but pushed the thoughts aside for later, focusing on the fight as Obi-Wan and he engaged Dooku once again.
As Dooku started to curve back towards Luke, Obi-Wan sent a worried glance Luke's direction, and the moment of distraction gave Dooku the opportunity to push him back with the Force. Luke made a movement as if he was going to jump in and help, but a sharp look from Obi-Wan made him stay. Anakin, still engaged with Dooku, cut off his route toward Luke quickly, pushing him backwards again in a protective movement. Anakin pushed Dooku back up the stairs that they had descended to enter the room, and on the opposite stairwell Obi-Wan climbed. A brief twinge in the Force and a moment later the battle droids were held in place, allowing Obi-Wan to easily cut through them. Obi-Wan sent a brief nod of thanks in Luke's direction before joining Anakin on the balcony to continue the double team on Dooku.
Suddenly Anakin was stunned by a kick from Dooku, sent flying backwards into a wall. Yet again, he felt a rush of worry from Luke while he regathered his senses. He saw Obi-Wan go flying, crashing into a catwalk which Dooku broke from the wall and dropped on his unconscious friend.
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin heard Luke exclaim. Quickly, Anakin turned his attention from his fallen friend to Dooku, rapidly descending upon him and kicking him over the balcony edge. Anakin jumped from the ledge, immediately engaging Dooku again on his own this time in a flurry of lightsaber attacks. They crossed blades, pushing against one another in a brief stalemate as Anakin glared his anger and hatred for this man right into Dooku's cold eyes.
Luke had run over to Obi-Wan's side, tapping into the Force to move the large piece of metal off of Obi-Wan. He knelt to check on Obi-Wan, just to be sure he really was just unconscious and not seriously injured.
Luke looked up at his father when he felt anger and hatred rising up in Anakin, as well as fear for his unconscious friend. Anakin and Count Dooku had locked blades, and a battle of wills was currently taking place. Apparently Anakin was perfectly capable of holding his own against the Count without Obi-Wan.
"I sense great...fear in you, Skywalker. You have hate, you have anger, but you don't use them," Dooku sneered at Anakin. Luke's gaze riveted to his father at the man's statement, his worry crashing through to his very core now as Anakin pushed the Count back, a dark look crossing his features as he advanced on the older man swiftly. In that moment, Luke sensed his father drawing on the dark side.
Not wanting to see his father take another step in this direction, Luke, despite his better judgment and the fact his father would probably kill Luke himself for this, went to his father's side, his own lightsaber already activated before he even added himself to the fight.
Anakin glanced at him in shock, then with a rush of anger flowing through his eyes. "Luke!"
He was prevented from saying more as Dooku advanced, and Luke did his best to keep Dooku's saber from slicing him in half. "You looked like you needed help," Luke told Anakin quietly, taking care to say it in a way that his father would catch that when he said help, he didn't mean with the lightsaber battle.
"Well this is an interesting development," Dooku mused, and Luke noticed with growing unease that Dooku was starting to shift his focus to Luke. Maybe this hadn't been his best idea...
"Luke, go back to Obi-Wan or the chancellor, I can handle Dooku myself," Anakin growled at him, though his eyes didn't tear away from the Count.
"Oh, an inexperienced one, is he Skywalker? Afraid of him getting hurt? Perhaps losing an arm?" Dooku taunted.
Anakin growled and swung at him again, a little wilder in his motions this time. Dooku used that wild movement to try and slip past his defenses, though Luke darted in—using the Force to guide his movements—and blocked the red lightsaber's advance, though now Luke found himself engaged with Dooku by himself, with none of the experience with Dooku's style of lightsaber combat to last through this. Dooku cocked an amused, challenging eyebrow at Luke, and Luke couldn't control the flash of fear that ran through him at the predicament he'd found himself in.
Luke did his best, though against the carefully refined, masterful, advanced style of this Sith he'd never encountered, he didn't stand a chance. Dooku quickly disarmed Luke just as easily as Vader had back on Bespin and moved to deliver a devastating final blow upon on him. Luke closed his eyes, prepared for the death blow, though Anakin shouted out, "Luke!" with a mixture of protectiveness and anger ringing in his voice, and Luke's eyes snapped open instinctively to see what was happening.
His father's blue blade intersected the Count's red blade mere inches from Luke's face, and everything else seemed to happen in slow motion.
Anakin disarmed Dooku—quite literally—by cutting off his hands as he instantly slid out of the block. Luke heard Sidious exclaim "Kill him! Now!" in the same voice he had used to taunt Luke to embrace the dark side as he'd said "Strike me down!" above Endor. However, Sidious didn't need to tell his father twice. Anakin had already been spinning back around before Sidious even spoke, cutting through Dooku with his lightsaber as he came back around. The Count's eyes widened in shock before the light left them, and his body fell to the floor with a dull thud. Luke couldn't tear his eyes away from the dead Sith.
Anakin seemed to force himself to look away from Dooku, struggling with the sight himself. "What were you thinking?" he asked, his voice low and furious as he grabbed Luke's arm. He wasn't rough, but he wasn't exactly gentle either.
Luke was still in shock, though he managed to stammer out his answer. "Y-you were drawing on the dark side...you needed to be given a moment to snap back to yourself so you wouldn't do anything you'd regret," Luke answered softly, regaining his bearings.
"Well you nearly got yourself killed! Obi-Wan told you to stay by the chancellor, you should have done as he asked," Anakin said in exasperation as he walked over to Sidious.
Luke nodded slowly. "I know what I was told, but I know what you needed too," Luke said very, very quietly, more to himself then to Anakin.
Anakin, still shaking his head, moved to release Sidious. Luke eyed the man wearily. Did they not know? Could they not sense any darkness from him? Luke couldn't, but he knew that the man was a dangerous Sith, so he didn't need to sense it.
Chancellor Palpatine. Sith Lords are our specialty . . .
Well apparently not, because your Supreme Chancellor is a Sith Lord! He's sitting right under your nose and you can't even figure that out? Luke thought incredulously.
Sidious' voice brought Anakin back to reality. "Good, Anakin, good. You did well."
Luke did his best not to blanch.
"It wasn't right," Anakin mumbled to the chancellor. "I should have stopped myself before I killed him, even if I was defending Luke. Killing in cold blood is not the Jedi way."
"You did what was necessary," Sidious told him fluidly. "And besides, you're no stranger to senseless murder, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother?"
Luke, shocked himself at the conversation he was hearing, saw the shock and contempt flash across Anakin's face that Sidious would bring the topic up and say such a thing. However, Luke didn't know what Sidious was talking about. He didn't have to ask to know that it was apparently a dark stain on his father's life.
Sidious made his way across the room, rubbing his wrists. "Come on, we must get out of here," he said urgently. Luke had to admit, it was strange seeing him not disfigured, hiding under a dark robe and hood, or with glowing yellow eyes. He took care not to meet the Sith's eyes though, since simply looking at him too long brought back memories of what had happened on the second Death Star. Luke preferred not to think of the electricity coursing through him, lighting every cell in his body on fire, excruciating pain becoming engrained into his very being...
He'd rather those memories stayed suppressed.
Anakin and Luke hurried over to the unconscious Obi-Wan's side, and Luke took the moment to say, "You were protecting me, don't beat yourself up about it. It's fine."
Anakin glanced up at him and for a minute looked like he would argue the point before he let it go, nodding and even giving him a little bit of a smile as he turned Obi-Wan onto his back.
Sidious turned to look at the three. "What are you doing? Leave him, he'll slow us down!"
"His fate will be the same as ours," Anakin said bluntly as he slung Obi-Wan over his shoulder. Luke gave his father a small smile as he followed him to the door. Thankfully, Sidious stayed at his father's side and didn't pay Luke much heed, though his bravado faded when he sensed Sidious cautiously probing his presence. Luke remembered that he was very strong in the Force like his father, and he slammed up his mental shields, blocking the Sith out.
Anakin groaned and Luke's focus shifted back to him. "What is it?" he asked.
"Elevator isn't working again," he grumbled. He lifted the comm link to his mouth. "R2, R2 I need you to get that elevator working again...R2, are you there? R2?"
Anakin sighed, "Come on," he said, using the Force to open the door. The elevator wasn't there, and Luke felt a twinge in the Force give him a slight warning.
"Get in," he said abruptly. The finality in his tone made Anakin raise his eyebrows, though he didn't question Luke and did as he'd commanded. They all carefully entered the elevator shaft the same moment that the ship apparently started to break somewhere, and the side of the elevator suddenly became the bottom of the elevator. Anakin looked back at Luke with an impressed smile, although before he could say anything Luke gestured ahead. "Carry on," he said smugly.
Anakin gave a little shake of his head, the small smile still there as he pressed forward with a new urgency. "Come on."
They had made quite a bit of progress when apparently whoever was steering the ship finally straightened it, though it wasn't good news for them. Suddenly their temporary floor became a very sharp slide downwards. Anakin and Luke both managed to grab onto part of the wall, Sidious latching onto Anakin's leg as the ship continued to straighten out.
Obi-Wan, who had been starting to slip off of his father's back, decided to come to in that moment. As he saw the steep drop below him, he jerked, grabbing on to Anakin as he stared down the shaft.
"Easy there, we're in a bit of a situation," Anakin told him.
"A bit?" Luke asked him. He looked up. "Uh...Anakin; The elevator's coming."
Sure enough, it was racing towards them. Anakin tapped on his comm link. "R2! Stop the elevator! R2!"
"No time!" Obi-Wan replied as he grabbed a grappling hook off of his utility belt. "Everybody hang on and, Anakin, let go!" he said as he tossed the grappling hook to secure themselves. Everyone obeyed, and they all swung through the hole below them that led into the hall the next level down, the elevator rushing by seconds after they cleared the opening.
Luke groaned. "Well this is turning out to be a great rescue," he said sarcastically. He was beginning to think his father's sense of humor was rubbing off on him.
"Come on, we still need to get off this blasted ship," Anakin muttered as everyone got to their feet. They raced through the hallways towards the hanger, and just when they thought they might actually get there without much of a problem...
"Ray shields!" Anakin exclaimed with a groan as the group was brought to a screeching stand-still.
"Wait, how did this happen; we're smarter than this!" Obi-Wan exclaimed.
"Apparently not," Anakin replied with a grimace.
Obi-Wan and his father continued to bicker back and forth, and Luke did his best not to be completely unnerved by the fact he was standing within arm's reach of Sidious. It made him very paranoid, given past experience with the old man. The helpless old man act didn't fool Luke; he knew exactly how dangerous he could be.
"I say...patience," Anakin told Obi-Wan; Obi-Wan seemed shocked that the suggestion had come from Anakin. "Just wait; any moment R2 will come around and get us out of this mess."
"You put so much faith into that astromech," Obi-Wan said with a shake of his head. Luke would have stood up for R2 himself, but he didn't want to reveal anything about himself in front of Sidious.
At that moment, just as his father had predicted, R2 can flying out of one of the doorways, running right into the wall.
"See, I told you!" Anakin exclaimed. "R2, help us out; we're stuck in this ray shield."
However at that moment droids flooded the hallway and R2 was quickly apprehended. Obi-Wan turned to Anakin. "Do you happen to have a Plan B?" he asked sarcastically.
Anakin just gave him an exasperated, annoyed look.
The ray shield was deactivated, their lightsabers were apprehended, and the small rescue group was led away.
Luke stood beside his father. "Well, this is fun," he muttered low enough that their conversation would be their own.
"What, and your rescue mission went smoothly?" Anakin shot back just as quietly.
"Well none of us got captured on the first rescue mission. We had a casualty, but no one was captured."
"The first one? And who was the casualty, might I ask."
Luke couldn't help the sadness that crept into his tone. "Obi-Wan was killed by the Sith," he replied softly.
"Your father?" Anakin asked with surprise.
Luke nodded. "Though that was before I knew he was my father."
"I see," Anakin mumbled, glancing over at his best friend as they talked about him in hushed tones. "And you said it was your first rescue mission?"
"Well, I guess technically there were three main rescue missions I did. That one, then there was the time when I went to rescue my friends from my father on Bespin, though the bounty hunter still got away with Han and I lost my hand on that one. Then there was the time when I went to rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt and we were all captured, though I don't count that because the plan was for all of us to get captured...originally. We didn't plan for the rancor or any of the stuff that happened after that, but hey, we all made it out in one piece," Luke said with a shrug.
Anakin shook his head. "It sounds like you have my bad luck."
Luke smiled a little, happy to be learning all these things he had in common with his father. "Yeah, I guess so."
The two fell silent as they approached the command deck. Luke quietly observed the tall, metal man that he assumed was this General Grievous Obi-Wan and his father kept talking about. The man hacked (as Luke had observed that there were signs that Grievous was a man but now mostly machine, as his father had become) and approached the group.
"Ah, the Negotiator, General Kenobi; we've been waiting for you. That wasn't much of a rescue," Grievous sneered as Obi-Wan, who was at the front of the small group, walked through the door.
Anakin walked in next. "And Anakin Skywalker. The Hero With No Fear." Grievous walked closer to Luke's father, so close Anakin leaned away, turning his head a little in distaste. "I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little...older."
"General Grievous...you're shorter than I expected," Anakin replied cockily with a smirk.
Grievous growled at him. "Jedi scum."
"We've got a job to do, Anakin, try not to upset him," Obi-Wan told Anakin calmly.
R2, beeped something out, and both Anakin and Luke looked at him with a small smile.
Grievous turned his attention to Luke who, having his own experience with men turned mostly machine, wasn't fazed by the sight of the general. The general poked him in the chest as he spoke. "And you, I have neither seen nor heard of. Fresh meat to the battlefield, hmm? You're definitely Jedi; that much is obvious. What's your name boy?"
Luke felt a rush of angry protectiveness over him from his father, though Luke brushed the feeling aside and looked at Grievous calmly. "Luke."
Grievous looked for a moment as if he would push Luke for more information, but decided it wasn't worth his time. "Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection," Grievous told them all, pulling back his cloak and tucking the three lightsabers into a small pocket on the inside of the cloak.
"Not this time, Grievous. And this time, you won't escape," Obi-Wan said calmly but with an air of threat in his words.
"R2!" Anakin barked.
Suddenly R2 buzzed, sparked, and whirled, catching everyone but the Jedi off guard. Simultaneously, all three of them called their lightsabers back to them and activated them.
"Crush them! Make them suffer!" Grievous barked.
"Luke, you can handle the regular droids. Obi-Wan and I have the MagnaGuards," Anakin told him.
Luke obeyed, understanding his father was trying to keep him out of trouble. He turned to see Sidious being dragged away by droids, and was half tempted to let them drag him away. However, his father saved him the trouble of a moral dilemma by bounding after them himself, and Luke turned his attention back to the droids trying to surround him.
Obi-Wan dealt with the MagnaGuard he was facing, Anakin returned with Sidious in tow, and Luke joined the two Jedi, all three of them cornering Grievous by the viewport. Luke stayed wary of Grievous considering he was wielding one of the MagnaGurads weapons.
"You lose, General Kenobi!" Grievous exclaimed before he broke the transparisteel. Luke, realizing what was about to happen, jumped behind the control panel he'd been standing on just as the suction kicked in. He peeked over the edge, watching the general let himself get sucked out while Anakin and Obi-Wan held on to whatever was closest to them to avoid getting sucked out themselves. In Obi-Wan's case, he held on to Anakin, who held onto the control panel Luke was now pressed against. Luke risked reaching over the control panel to grab onto Anakin just in case his father lost his grip. Behind Luke, Sidious slammed his hand down on the button that would activate the airlock.
As soon as the airlock shield slammed shut and they were back on their feet, the three Jedi went back to cutting through droids, or at least cutting through the ones that didn't flee in terror.
Alarms went off and Anakin and Luke looked at the monitor that was going off. "All the escape pods have been launched," Anakin told Obi-Wan.
"Grievous," Obi-Wan cursed before he turned to the controls. "Can you fly a cruiser like this?"
Anakin snorted as all three Jedi took a seat at the controls. "You mean learn how to land what's left of this thing," he replied sourly.
"Well?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well under the circumstances I'd say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant," Anakin said as he pushed several buttons. "Strap yourselves in."
Luke sighed as he got situated, watching as they plummeted towards Coruscant. "This is going to be one interesting ride," he mumbled. Anakin snickered.
"Open all hatches, extend all flaps," Anakin commanded, and Luke was quick to oblige, knowing what his father was going for and even executing some actions himself to help his cause.
Suddenly they were all thrown forward, and the ship started to plummet at an even faster rate.
"I think we lost something," Luke told his father, who nodded in acknowledgement.
"Not to worry, we are still flying half a ship," Obi-Wan told them cheerily.
"Now we're really picking up speed," Anakin mumbled.
"I'd say!" Luke told him before adding in an informative, "We're in the atmosphere."
"Grab that, keep us low!" Anakin told Luke.
"I can do that," he said, jumping to do as he was told.
"Steady," Obi-Wan cautioned.
Luke and Anakin both glanced at R2 and he beeped rapidly. "Easy, R2!" they both exclaimed.
"Five thousand. Five ships on the left and on the right," Obi-Wan told Anakin.
"We'll take you in," came through the communications device from one of the other ships.
"Roger that," Obi-Wan said, then pointed out the viewport. "Landing strip, straight ahead."
"We're coming in too hot," Anakin told him.
"It's our best option," Luke pointed out.
They all jerked as the ship made contact with the ground and started sliding down the landing strip, tearing it up and even taking out a watchtower as it slowly came to a blessed stop.
Everyone sat back, breathing heavily as they all looked around at each other.
"Another happy landing," Obi-Wan said with a smile as he brushed the hair from his face.
Luke started laughing and Anakin simply snickered.