As the ship shook slightly as it entered the atmosphere, Anakin had his fingers tracing a ring that hung from a chain around his neck. When they had married, he had decided to wear the ring on a necklace instead of placing it on his finger. He had this gut feeling that if he were ever called away to battle, it would be safer around his neck than on his hand. That theory was about to be tested out. He could feel the inscription on the inside of the ring as he ran his fingers over it.
My Life. My Love. My Heart.
Tracing the words and repeating them in his mind helped keep him at ease. He wasn't worried about himself for he knew he could take care of himself. He was more concerned for his family. Would his wife be okay without him by her side?
Ever since he arrived on Imara, he had been with her every day. He was able to keep her safe since she was never more than a few meters away. What would happen if she was attacked and he wasn't there?
He mentally shook his head and berated himself. She has Ahsoka there with her. She is more than capable of taking care of his wife, he was just overthinking things due to his nervousness. He was snapped out of his thoughts as the speaker overhead the cabin of the ship came to life.
"Landing in T-minus 30 seconds."
Letting go of his ring, he reached for the lightsaber hanging from his belt. He then turned to address the squad of soldiers that stood behind his back.
"Listen up! We'll be making the main charge to the capital. Bray and Devan's squads will be taking care of the flanks. We need to take care of the capital before we can worry about any more areas where the droid army could be stationed. Is that clear?"
When he received a chorus of yes sir's, he resumed his speech.
"Follow me closely. I've been here before so I know what to expect. We'll all make it home as long as you listen to my orders, alright?"
They nodded their heads in understanding and Anakin turned to his Commander standing to his left.
"Aren, when we make it in the capital, I want you to take half of the squad to the com station inside. We'll need to send a message to the Queen to let her know the area is secured. I'll deal with the clean up while you do that."
The tan skinned young man nodded his head in confirmation and Anakin turned one last time to the rest of the squad to give them one last message.
"Remember your training. All those drills and exercises were for moments like these. Just keep calm and concentrate."
He gave them a small but reassuring smile, then turned towards the doors as he could feel the ship touching down. He took one last deep breath before the doors finally opened and he sprang into action. He could see the swarm of droids outside the pristine marble building and made a run towards them.
The droids opened fire and began to march towards the new enemy. Blaster fire soon took over the battlefield as Anakin deflected the blaster fire back to its source. He sensed his squad doing as they were told and could feel them at his back returning fire. Noticing the debris from the earlier battle, he made a move for cover.
"Everyone find cover and keep returning fire!"
Moving to the debris, he took cover and began to access the situation. They were outnumbered, but he took notice of how open the droids were compared to his men. Glancing to his right, he saw Devan taking care of the right flank and making progress to the entrance of the capital. He then turned to his left and saw Bray doing the same.
Bray seemed to be barking orders to his squad as they moved up to take on the droids guarding the capital entrance. He briefly locked eyes with him and held up his hand, telling him to hold up. All of a sudden, he heard something to his right that caused him to focus on the commotion. Doing so, he came face to face with Devan as he crouched down next to him.
"How's it looking?"
Turning back to the battle, he glanced around before casually shrugging his shoulders.
"Not too bad. We still need to get to the entrance and get the droids out of here. How'd you finish your part off so quick?"
Devan returned the shrug before motioning over to where he had entered the fray.
"Kinda easy to be honest. They probably weren't expecting reinforcements so quick. Not many droids were there to meet us."
Nodding his head, Anakin turned back to the battle. It seemed to be locked in a stalemate now as more droids came pouring out of the building. Glancing down at the debris, an idea suddenly popped into his head that made him face palm.
"Get your men to stand back. I'll tell mine to do the same. I've got an idea that should get us into the building."
Devan looked at him confused for a brief second before nodding his head. Anakin watched as he turned to give out orders before doing the same. As they all backed up a bit from the debris, Anakin reached out his hands and focused. He could feel the weight and shape of the debris as he focused on getting a hold on it. He then tightened his fists before pushing his hands out and sent the debris flying.
The result was perfect. The debris slammed into the droids and caused them to be ripped apart. Not many were left and the rest were gunned down quickly by the troops surrounding the entrance. As Anakin admired his work, he heard a voice to his left.
"Just like the simulations, huh."
He turned in the direction of the voice and saw Bray smirking at him. He chuckled as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Perks of the Force."
Bray grinned in amusement as he shook his head before turning back to the battlefield. Anakin then turned to his Commander and started giving orders again.
"Aren, you know what to do. Keep your com on and let me know when you've reached the com room. We've got work down here still to do."
He watched as his Commander nodded his head and made his way into the capital. Turning to the rest of his squad, he began to speak.
"We need to access the damage caused to the planet by the invasion. If my hunch is correct, we got some work to do."
As he finished, he heard a shout come from the entrance of the capital. He saw a trooper making his way towards him and he didn't look in the best of shape. Dirty and sweaty, he looked as if he'd been through hell. He walked over to meet the man halfway as the trooper began to speak.
"High General Skywalker, thanks for coming so quick. We couldn't have held off without you coming."
Anakin nodded his head and stuck out his hand for a shake. The man reciprocated it earnestly as he was still gasping for breath.
"No problem trooper. The Queen called and we knew we had to help. What's your name?"
The man took a calming breath as he answered.
"Naylen sir. The rest of our men are in the capital building as we were trying to hold them off. We have a bunch of men in there injured and lost quiet a few as well."
Anakin nodded his head then pulled out his com.
"Zaven, come in."
A moment passed before the voice of the dark skinned Lieutenant came over the com.
"Gotcha Anakin."
Holding the com up closer to him, Anakin relayed the information.
"We have multiple injured men in the capital. We need a medical team down here ASAP to give them treatment."
Anakin could here the information being relayed around the ship before getting an answer.
"Understood. We're sending a few men down now to help."
Anakin locked eyes with Naylin as he responded.
"Copy that. Thank you."
The line was cut and Anakin saw the relief come across the face of the battered trooper. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he spoke.
"Take a rest soldier, we've got it from here. Help is on the way."
He received a nod and thanks as the man turned to go back to the building. Anakin then turned his attention back to the men standing around waiting for orders.
"Bray, I want you to split up your squad, Grey squad, and Night squad, and have them access the West of the city. That's where most of the civilians are living. Take inventory of any injuries as I don't want to send men out that are not in shape to do so."
Bray nodded his head and began to do as ordered. While he did so, Anakin turned to Devan to give him his orders.
"Devan, do the with Red squad, Bronze squad, and your squad and go to the south. A lot of the mining factories are over there and I want to know if any of the resources were damaged or stolen."
He watched as he began to do the same as Bray then turned to his men. Taking a look around, he first made sure there were no injuries. He'd hate to send his men out if they'd be compromised in a dire situation. Seeing that they were fine, he made his next move.
"I want you to split up into 3 teams and search the East. Most businesses are there so we need to see if we need to help replenish goods."
They did as they were told and Anakin began to lead a group to the south as he saw the medical teams making their way down to the capital. He made a quick com call to let the lead med team know where the injured would be at before focusing on the task at hand.
Padmé was making her way to the Chancellor's office at the urgency of the message she received. She was told by Mas Amedda that it was of high importance for her to meet with the Chancellor. She wasn't told what it was about but assumed she would be once she reached the office.
As she walked in, she was surprised to see that Bail Organa was already in the office speaking to the Chancellor. As the two men turned to her, she put on a placating smile, trying to show she was happy to see them. Truthfully though, she was miserable. She would rather be at home in bed mourning the loss of her husband. Nobody still had any idea where Anakin could be and the empty feeling continued to sit in her stomach.
Palpatine stood up to greet her.
"Ahh, Senator Amidala. How good it is to see you my dear."
She bowed her head and returned the greeting.
"Thank you Chancellor. It's good to see you too."
She turned to see Bail standing up to greet her as well.
"Padmé, how are you my friend?"
It wasn't noticed by Bail, but Palpatine could see the misery flash briefly in her eyes but she covered it with her political mask. He knew it was because of Anakin, but decided to keep his comments to himself.
"I'm doing well Bail, thank you. How are you and Breha?"
Bail smiled at her and told her they were both doing fine. The three occupants sat down and the two Senators looked to Palpatine waiting to be told what they were here for.
"We still have a few more guests that have yet to arrive. Once they do, we will begin discussing what I called you here for."
They engaged in small talk until a few moments later two more individuals were let into the room. Padmé recognized them instantly and shared a brief small smile with one of them as they entered the room.
"Here we are. Master Windu, Master Kenobi. Good to see you two."
The two bowed to the Chancellor and exchanged brief greetings before taking a seat adjacent to the other two. They exchanged greeting with Padmé and Bail before Palpatine started the meeting.
"Now that we're all here. I have some news for you."
The four facing him waited patiently for him to continue.
"I have reached out to the Queen of Yara. As you know, the Separatists have invaded the planet and I reached out to ask her to join the Republic."
This gained the interest of all in the room as they began to pay more attention to the Chancellor.
"She told me she would speak to the other leaders of the planets in the system and they would come to Coruscant to discuss matters with us."
Bail leaned forward to ask a question.
"Has she given any hint as to if they will join us or not?"
Palpatine gave a small shake of the head and frowned.
"Unfortunately, no. She seemed to be reluctant as to joining us, as it appears they do not want to be involved in the war."
Padmé then pitched into the conversation herself.
"If they don't join, how will they handle the invasion?"
Turning towards her, Palpatine spoke.
"It appears they have an Army on each planet. And in the alliance they have, it seems that if one planet is invaded, they will help that planet out."
At this, Windu began to speak.
"If that's the case Chancellor, then why reach out to them offering assistance?"
The two Senators gave him brief glances of disbelief. Even Obi-Wan looked at him with mild incredulousness. Palpatine just regarded him with a small smile at the question before speaking in his grandfatherly tone.
"To let them know we could offer them help. Even with the alliance and army, the droids would still heavily outnumber them. If we can give them a helping hand, it would be one more system to join the Republic. It would be beneficial for both sides."
At this, Bail spoke up again.
"While I agree with the sentiment Chancellor, they are beyond the Outer Rim. It would take time for any reinforcements to make their way to the system to offer help."
Palpatine nodded his head in understanding.
"I understand what you're saying Senator, but if we can add more planets to the system, it may help us end the war. They already have an army plus resources that would be beneficial to the Republic. We can help them and they could help make the Republic stronger."
He let the thought simmer for a little and could see that they were starting to agree with what he was saying. While this was going on, Obi-Wan decided to finally break his silence.
"Chancellor if I may, what is it you need from us here?"
Palpatine turned to regard the Jedi Master. The other three did as well before turning back to the Chancellor.
"I asked you here to put together a welcome committee for their arrival. I feel that it would be imperative for us to welcome them here with open arms and show them generosity. It may help sway their decision to joining us."
The room was quiet for a brief moment before Padmé spoke.
"When will they be arriving?"
Although her voice was quiet, her could tell she was warming to the idea.
"I'm not sure Milady. I was told they would alert me when they were close to the planet."
Being told this, Bail spoke up with urgency.
"Then it would be best if we work on putting the committee together. It'd be best to be prepared for their arrival."
The meeting was adjourned soon after and the bid their fair-wells. As the group left the office, Master Windu had a stoic look of indifference but if you looked closely, Obi-Wan looked quite pensive. He couldn't say what but something told him that things were going to be a little tense in the coming days.