The separatists have officially divided the galaxy. Civil wars have broken out throughout several systems, causing chaos and destruction where the republic cannot keep up. Jedi master Saesee Tiin and newly knighted Anakin Skywalker are deployed to stop the smaller wars on Bastora before they can spread into a galaxy wide conflict.

"This war should have the entire order worried," Master Tiin warned as Bastora came into view out of the brand-new republic cruiser bridge, "as peacekeepers we're not meant for this task."

Anakin asked, standing behind him, "Do you suggest we sit back and let the galaxy tear itself apart, Master?"

"I think the separatists are toying with us and the galaxy as a whole making any action we take play right into their game," he explained, "but without proof it's merely speculation. As for you, young Skywalker-" he finally turned to face him-"from what Master Kenobi told me, you have hard time following orders. This is not the time to stray from your training, do you understand?"

Surprised to have such a stern talking to out of nowhere, Anakin started, "I-"

Master Tiin interrupted, "The council has only promoted you early because we had to, not because your skills suggest you should already be knighted at such a young age. I expect you to follow my orders without question. Is that understood?"

"Yes," he said, gritting his teeth, "I understand, Master. You're in charge here."

It wasn't as though Anakin pushed for the council to make him a knight at just 19, but still he was excited to see himself finally progress. The rest of his peers were still padawan learners while he was one step closer to no longer having to follow anyone's orders.

He couldn't dwell on the thought long however. They arrived at Bastora's system right on schedule, but everything was wrong. Instead of a peaceful planet, it's orange, yellow, and red surface looked angry, and the hundreds of separatist ships surrounding it didn't help. "What?" Anakin gasped, "They're already here?"

"What weapons do we have on board, Admiral Yularen?" Master Tiin asked.

"Minimal, sir," he answered, "and we only have 25 clone troopers with their own blasters and ammunition. This was supposed to be a scouting and reporting mission, not a full-frontal assault."

Anakin said, "Our intel was wrong!"

Master Tiin ordered, "We're following our original plan. Land in the capital city as we were told to, captain."

"Shouldn't we come up with the new strategy?" Anakin asked, "This is a full scale war now! We'll be under attack in moments!"

"They wouldn't dare strike a republic cruiser-" Master Tiin started. He couldn't finish because explosions reigned down from every direction. Everyone on board watched as the atmosphere heated up the outer core of the ship as the planet's gravity took hold and it's shields burnt up. It wasn't long before the capital city came into view, with missiles and blasts also reigning down on it. The separatists were had already begun the fight.

Blasts rocked the shields and the cruiser hard. Anakin could no longer stay on his feet. Even without looking out the window, he could tell they were coming in too fast. They were either going to burn up or hit the ground at the wrong angle. He tried to brace himself as gravity pulled the ship down faster and harder than ever.

BAM!

Fire!

Heat!

Screams!

Explosions!

Everything blacked out against the red fireballs.

The next thing Anakin knew, he was laying on the ground flat on his back. His lungs hurt, eyes shut tight, he didn't dare move.

"Did the medical droid find anything we should be worried about?" Rex asked someone.

"No broken bones," a man answered, Anakin knew who he was, he had heard him before, but couldn't remember at the moment, "the impact knocked him out, and the smoke from the crash combined with the thinner air in these mountains has made him take a longer nap than expected, but he should wake up any minute now." Cool air fanned against his face.

Anakin finally opened his eyes and coughed violently. His vision started off blurry, but it was obvious two men were standing over him. One of them fanned a rag in his face to help with airflow.

"Master Jedi," Rex said, "how are you feeling?"

His vision finally became clear as he coughed for the last time, his lungs struggling to take in the thin air. "We crashed?" he asked, looking up to see Senator Bail Organa standing over him beside clone trooper Rex.

Bail answered, worried, "More like we were exploded out of the sky."

"The separatists weren't supposed to be here," Anakin said, sitting up on his own, he added, "Where is everyone else? Admiral Yularen? Master Tiin?"

Rex answered, "They made it, but most of the clones and nearly all the supplies didn't. Us survivors are awaiting Master Tiin's orders."

Anakin stood up and asked, "Did we crash near the capital at least?"

"According to the surviving part of the navigation system we're just over 70 klicks south of it," Bail explained, as they walked over to Master Tiin together, "and it looks like the rest of this massive mountain range we're on, is standing between us and them. Far too treacherous to climb."

"Then staying put would make the most sense for now," Anakin replied.

Rex replied, "I agree, sir."

Anakin said, "You don't have to call me 'sir,' trooper. I'm Anakin Skywalker. I heard some of the clones were giving themselves names. What's yours?"

"Rex."

"Well Rex," Anakin replied, "looks like things are about to get interesting around here."

Master Tiin said, "Skywalker, good to see you back on your feet. Our losses are quite high, but everyone who survived appears to be in quite good shape and are mostly mobile. We should move out before the separatists swarm in on us."

Confused, Anakin asked, "Move out to where, Master?"

"Toward the capital," he answered, "we're still under orders to meet there with Master Piel."

Rex couldn't hide his surprise.

"Master Jedi-" Bail said quickly and awkwardly.

"Master Tiin," Anakin asked, "wouldn't it be better to alert the council and the senate of what's happened first, of what they're about to fly into if they come here after us? Our intel was clearly wrong. At this rate Master Piel will be blown out of the sky just as we were."

Master Tiin nodded and said, "Young Skywalker, there are ways the council operates you are not privy to as a new knight. As the senior person in charge at the moment, I make the decisions, and I've decided we'll all head toward the capital city. Besides, our communications were destroyed on impact."

Yularen replied, "Way to take charge, sir."

"I'm confused, sir," Rex confessed, "as clone troopers we're supposed to follow the orders of the jedi, but there are two jedi here, and they aren't in agreement."

Anakin said, unhappy, "We're following Master Tiin's orders."

"Sir, yes sir!"

Anakin couldn't believe the mess they had fallen into so suddenly. One minute they were going to talk to those on Bastora on what they can do to help the republic, and the next they were getting shot down by droids and their ship had exploded. He still wondered why they couldn't set up a homing beacon for Master Piel but he knew it wasn't his place to question orders.

Walking directly uphill for over an hour made half a mile feel as though they had walked 10, mixed with the fact that the air was so thin only added to their struggle. Those who were injured needed more help than expected to keep moving. Anakin fell back with them, Bail at his side with the last of the struggling clone troopers. There were just over a dozen of them who needed help.

Master Tiin continued to lead the way, hardly slowing down for those trailing behind. He knew his mission, his orders from the high council, and knew what it meant if he didn't follow them to the exact letter.

Meanwhile Anakin still wasn't sure this was the right path. Between the valley and the highest mountain they could see, they eventually walked right into a village.

Anakin thought this was an excellent stopping point. The villagers quickly gathered around them in desperation and curiosity. Their fear and hopelessness sunk into Anakin hard.

"Jedi from the republic!"

"Can you help us?"

"The separatists have been bombing us for days!"

Bail stepped forward and asked, "Has anyone attempted to contact the republic and ask for reinforcements?"

"Our communications are down!" A man pointed to the saucer pointed at the sky. Anakin saw a few pieces were broken, but it was overall in good condition. He figured he could have it up and running within the hour.

"Master Tiin, we don't need to go all the way to the capital," he said, "we can send Master Piel a message from here!"

He replied, "It'll take forever to get that monstrosity working."

Anakin insisted, "Master, it may only take a few hours."

"I say let the boy try," Bail said.

Master Tiin said, "We still need to get to the capital and contact Master Piel and the rest of the republic forces before they walk into a trap. We can't stay here fiddling with something that may not even work."

Someone in the crowded village exclaimed, "The road leading to the capital has been bombed out!"

Bail looked down and muttered under his breath, "I was afraid that would happen."

"Is there no other way to get to the city?" Master Tiin asked, "It's important we get there as soon as possible."

A woman answered, "There's an old mining shaft that'll take you there through the mountains but no one's worked on it in years. With all these bombs going off everywhere it might have collapsed."

"That's a chance I'll take," Master Tiin insisted.

Bail stepped between them and interjected, "Master jedi, these people are loyal to the republic. It's our duty to help them."

"We are by bringing reinforcements-"

"If we leave them here the separatists are going to find them and destroy what's left!" Bail insisted.

Admiral Yularen said, "I agree with the senator, Master Jedi. If we turn our backs on these people, the senate and the rest of the republic will become less sympathetic to our cause."

Anakin added, "We can stay here for now and I'll do what I can to fix their communications and send a message to the republic from here." He didn't stick around to chat and instead made his way over to the massive disk pointed at the sky.

It was more damaged than he first realized. Wires were blown apart and stripped, and pieces were missing and burnt up. He knew a bombed out village cut off from the rest of their civilization wasn't going to have spare parts for something like this laying around. He pieced together what it could, unsure if it would be enough.

Just when things were finally beginning to come together, air-raid sirens rang out throughout the town. The villagers scrambled in a panic.

Anakin stepped out from the communications tower and watched at the sky blackened and the sun disappeared. The separatists had come from over the mountains and were now searching for survivors, bombing everything in their way.

"Everyone!" Master Tiin shouted, "To the mining shaft! Skywalker, Yularen, collect everyone you can! Follow me!"

Crowds of people carrying everything they could ran into the cave in a flurry. The clones activated their flashlights and prepared their batteries.

Bombs went off everywhere outside as Anakin helped the last people in. The tunnel was wider than he expected, and everyone managed to fit inside, unharmed.

The mayor of the town explained to Master Tiin, "This tunnel cuts off about 20 klicks of distance between us and the capital, if it hasn't caved in halfway through years ago."

"We'll need to take that chance," he insisted, "let's move everyone. Keep to the light!"

Anakin helped a few stragglers move ahead. Bail watched him and walk alongside him. Bail said, "Even with a shortcut, it's going to take all night to walk to the capital."

"That's better than sitting in the dark," Anakin replied, "or staying in that village." He turned and saw a trooper fall to his knees. "Easy there, trooper."

"I'll be alright, sir," he insisted, "finish the mission without me."

"I'm not leaving a soldier behind," he insisted, helping him onto his feet.

"But we're expendable."

Bail asked, taking his other arm over his shoulder to help him walk, "Who told you that?"

Rex explained, "It's in our programming, Senator. We were made to be disposable in the act of war. It's what the jedi and the republic built us for."

"But you're alive," Bail said, horrified, "you're human beings."

Anakin added, "Even though you're clones of each other, it's clear each one of you is different from the next. I agree with Senator Organa. You're not expendable like the jedi council claims."

Bail asked, "The council says they are?"

He nodded and confessed, "I often don't agree them."

"I've noticed," he said, "back in the village, did you manage to fix the communications long enough to send a message?"

"I did," Anakin answered, "but I have no way of knowing if it got intercepted." The chances were high, which was the only reason he was following behind Master Tiin instead of fighting for his perspective to be heard. He knew the separatists were everywhere above them and could easily stop the republic from getting it.

Suddenly, the dirt around them shifted violently and shook under their feet. Was it some sort of quake? No, the villagers were panicked! They screamed out in fear. It became overwhelming for Anakin to sense in such a small space. Dirt fell in his eyes.

"It's collapsing!" Someone at the front of the group shouted.

But Anakin didn't need anyone to say it, he could felt the mountain shifting and moving above them. The bombing was getting to them and in moments the walls and ceiling were going to cave in on them.

He used the force to lift any and all rocks that he could. In the front of the crowd, he could sense Master Tiin making a run for it with many of the villagers. Where was he going?!

The dirt and rocks came crashing down in front of him. "Fall back!" he shouted to anyone who could hear him, "Back! Back!" From what he could tell, no one was under the rubble, but the mountain and the entire shaft was collapsing fast. He ran for the original entrance, helping along who he could so they wouldn't get crushed.