Ahsoka's POV

Steela lowered her rifle as the droid head fell to the ground.

"Impressive," praised Anakin. "Most impressive."

Really? Anyone can shoot a still target from 15 meters.

Ahsoka decided she might as well give Steela a real challenge. "Fixed targets are one thing. How about this?" She used the Force to lift up the droid head and started moving it around.

Steela aimed and shot, hitting the target three times and making it fall to the ground again.

"Good job," Ahsoka said reluctantly.

She didn't know why she felt slightly annoyed when Steela succeeded at something. After all, training the rebels was her purpose here. She didn't need to be competing with them.

After realizing that Anakin was side-eyeing her intensely, she made an effort to look more cheerful. He almost looked suspicious of her, and she hoped he wasn't still thinking about that conversation in the cot.

Like, seriously? Romantic feelings?

Not her.

Never.

Hoping Anakin wouldn't follow her, she headed towards Rex and Obi-Wan, who were gathered around the holotable.

"What's the plan?" she asked as she leaned on the wall beside the table.

Rex turned to face her. "It's in the works. We were just studying the capital's infrastructure for potential points of interest."

"Like targets for us to strike?"

Obi-Wan turned off the hologram and joined the conversation. "We aren't striking anywhere. Besides, if you ask me, we should dedicate at least another day for training. Not everyone has gained the required level of consistency in their exercises yet."

Yeah, like with those poppers. What's so kriffing hard about that anyway?

"I agree," Rex concurred. "They will be taking on the Separatist army. The least we can do is make sure they possess the necessary skills."

"The least we can do? Wait..." she trailed off and pointed a questioning gaze at Obi-Wan. "You weren't actually serious when you said we weren't going to fight with them, right?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "There's only so much we can do when dealing with a legitimate government. Besides, it's just four of us here."

Suddenly another voice joined in. "Three Jedi and one of the best captains in the GAR. Don't underestimate our capabilities, Obi-Wan."

Ahsoka turned around to see Anakin standing there with Saw Gerrera behind him. Anakin took the spot next to Ahsoka and turned the holotable back on.

"Saw has some ideas," he continued. "He says there are ways we could effectively weaken King Rash's regime without having to engage in direct combat."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Anakin..."

He clearly didn't approve of Anakin's approach, which wasn't really surprising. Obi-Wan had always been the one advocating for the rational and safe approach. Anakin, much like Ahsoka, didn't mind taking risks.

In fairness, this operation was pretty shady. Even so, she felt like they had a duty to stay and fight. This was simply not a battle that could be won without their help. While many of the rebels were actually talented fighters, it wasn't enough in a war of this scale.

"I have at least two ideas that could work," Saw began. "First, we could take down the power generator in Iziz. It is a key target and not too difficult to destroy"

"That is textbook terrorism," Obi-Wan reminded. "It would make you look worse in the eyes of the public."

"It powers the entire droid army here on Onderon," Saw explained. "Blowing it up would bring the droids to a standstill."

"Newer droid models can last surprisingly long without a recharge. Besides, they have backup power sources."

"Many of the droids stationed in Iziz are older models. We could make them practically useless while also damaging the more advanced separatist forces."

There was a moment of silence as everyone pondered the situation.

"Well...?" Anakin asked, eyes glued on Obi-Wan, who was just stroking his beard.

"As for the other idea I had," Saw went on, looking a little frustrated with Obi-Wan's doubtfulness, "we could plant portable holoprojectors around the city and use them as a platform to speak."

This seemed to interest Obi-Wan more. He lifted his gaze and seemed to be analyzing the possibilities.

"I, for one, think it's a foolproof strategy," Anakin stated. "We need the people of Onderon to know that there is hope."

"We'll make our decision tomorrow, then," Obi-Wan replied. He grabbed his Jedi robes from the rock where he had left them, and continued, "it's scorching hot out here. I need to get indoors for a moment."

"Until then," Anakin declared and shut off the holotable. He glanced at Ahsoka before walking off, and she was sure she still saw glint of suspicion in his eyes.

Lux's POV

Volunteering to carry water from the river every day had proven to be one of Lux's biggest mistakes.

Yes, they had to get their water from a river, and the amounts they needed were immense. It had gotten pretty frustrating after all these grueling months, especially when his time was split between this and relentless combat.

The only positive aspect about the whole ordeal was that Saw had stopped commenting about his muscles. Now that he thought about it, he could see some changes for the better.

This life was very different from what he was used to on Raxus. It was dangerous, but also more meaningful. He woke up every day knowing he might not see tomorrow, and the constant stress was taking its toll. Still, he intended to keep on going. He owed it to his friends, to his family, and to Onderon.

Lux left the last two buckets of water by the Rupings and started putting his gear back on. Some of it was way too heavy to wear while working. For some reason eager to see Ahsoka, he attached his comlink to his wrist and took off toward the briefing area.

His breath caught in his throat.

Marching under the giant trees were swarms of B1 battle droids, their metallic forms glinting in the sunlight, accompanied by a very menacing AAT-tank. Before he had fully registered what he saw, the words were already out of his mouth.

"Droids! We're under attack!"

Saw, Steela, Ahsoka, Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi and many others burst out of the main building before he had even finished his sentence. He guessed the Jedi had sensed the attack.

Better late than never, I suppose.

Lux grabbed a pistol and a couple droid poppers from the weapons box. "We can discuss why no one was keeping watch later. Someone go alert the others!"

Saw took it upon himself to go warn the people in the kitchen building. A pretty good idea, seeing as that whole area was very much in the line of fire right now. Steela, rifle already in hand, positioned herself behind some storage crates. The adult Jedi were already busy with deflecting the increasingly intense laserfire from the droids.

Lux took cover behind a wide pillar across from Steela, and Ahsoka ran up to him.

"Lux! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, "I got here just moments before you did."

"Did somebody talk?" Ahsoka wondered as she ignited her lightsaber.

"I highly doubt it. The separatists have probe droids everywhere." Lux had probably destroyed at least 30 of them by now. They were incredibly efficient at spying.

"Yeah, we sliced one up on our wa-"

"Guys! Can you talk less and help more?" Steela shouted as she sniped another droid. She was taking them down at a decent pace, but Lux knew it wasn't going to be enough. For every destroyed droid, two more appeared.

"We need heavier weaponry!" Lux yelled back.

Ahsoka swung around the corner with her lightsaber and joined the fight, deflecting everything the droids threw at her. Lux watched her for a moment, reminded of just how terrifying it looked. He had seen her fight before, but this was much different, and much more dangerous.

But then, just as he peeked around the other side, an explosion shredded the air before him. He turned to see what caused it, and his eyes met Saw.

"Bonteri!" he roared, holding a grenade and pointing at the separatist tank.

The blast had pulverized a good amount of droids, leaving the tank exposed. If they were going to take it down, this would most certainly be the moment to do so.

Then, without any warning, Steela shot open the gate to the animal enclosure. The fambaas and dalgos ran straight into the remaining platoon of droids, crushing many of them instantly. "Go, go!" she yelled.

Lux ran and jumped onto the tank. Just like in practice, Saw took the bottom hatch. Unlike practice, though, Lux managed to climb up without falling this time. He opened the top hatch.

"Now!" shouted Saw, tossing in his grenade. Lux did the same, and they sprinted away as quick as they could. Hearing the beeping of the grenades get faster, Lux dove forward.

The massive explosion went off before he got to the ground.

Once the smoke had cleared, he lifted up his head. His ears were still slightly ringing when he felt Steela's hand helping him up. He could see Ahsoka and Saw out of the corner of his eye, but none of the others were in sight.

"Impressive," Steela said with a smile.

"Where are Master Skywalker and the others?" he asked immediately.

"They're fine. We're in the clear," replied Ahsoka, running up to them.

"We need to get out of here today," he asserted. "They know where we are, and the next attack will be worse."

"Don't worry, Dono and Jamus already went off to pack," Steela informed. "I guess we'll be heading to Iziz next."

He knew they had to start moving faster, and hiding in the forest wouldn't help with that. That being said, they had no proper plan. Finding a place to stay where they could fit their entire squad would be challenging.

"We need to clean you up," Steela stated, changing the subject. Looking down at his clothes, he noticed they were covered in all kinds of dirt.

"Uh-"

"Well, I like it," Saw cut in with a sly sneer. "Now you look more like a soldier than a politician."

Steela smirked, "Well, maybe a good politician needs to get dirty now and then."

Well, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

By the dumbfounded look on her face, he could tell Ahsoka was wondering the same thing.

Before he could process a response, everyone was already gone.