Allana

It's been weeks, exactly three in a half since Adi passed away and the brothers left to hide in the shadows. I have been constantly asked to stay in the Temple and do nothing but meditate, ease my mind, etcetera. I couldn't do that. I could hear my Master but I was sure it couldn't be and I feared to see or hear her, for I thought I'd be a little too weak. It's still a fresh wound. I believe it will always be. Perhaps it will heal and stop bleeding...eventually.

Instead, I've spent my days training and fixing my lightsabers for them to unite at the end with magnets, that way I could wield a double bladed lightsaber. I was only getting g ready for my third and final round against Savage. It was hard to make them match comfortably, I had to adapt Adi's handle. That made it feel a bit more...mine, but, not quite.

I've also been boring my ass off at the office of the Senator of Naboo, helping her out with different paperwork, being her bodyguard anywhere she'd go to, etcetera. Today we found ourselves in Theed. She decided to pay our family a visit before leaving towards Coruscant again before nighttime. I was playing around with my nieces when mother called us to eat.

We sat down on our respective places, I was in between Padmé and our father as Mom and Sola served the food. Salad with chicken. For some reason, the scent of the cooked meat made me lose my appetite when mother stood to my left.

"Would you like some, dear?" She asked.

"Maybe just a little. I'm not that hungry." She nodded and served it. "Thank you." I wasn't sure if I'd eat, but I've never say no to her kind smile and her cooking.

"Of course." She left a kiss on my forehead before heading to her seat and sitting down.

  "How has everything been with the Jedi?" Asked Dad. I shrugged.

"More or less." I answered with honesty as Sola served the strawberry lemonade on the cups. "I got a Padawan of my own, his name is Cal. He's a brilliant young man. But, um...Adi passed away a while ago, I couldn't do anything to help her." My father's hand found mine on the table. Suddenly, the lightsaber hilt felt heavier again. I sighed through my nose.

  The lightsabers are connected to their own Jedi through the Force, that's how we finish the assembling of the elegant weapon, that's why it is so ours. That's why Jedi are buried or burned with their lightsabers. The fact that I held on to Adi's made it feel as if it didn't belong, because in fact, it didn't. Another selfish act of mine.

"I'm so sorry. She was a great friend of yous."

"Not only that. She was my Master, who trained and raised me, who taught me everything I know..." I sighed and took my glass. "It's been rough."

"I can only imagine." Said Sola as I nodded and smiled weakly at her when she mouthed she was sorry.

"Well, enough of that." Said Mom. "How's Anakin?" She asked before I took a sip of the beverage. I smiled before frowning. The scent and taste of the liquid were too strong...unbearable. I placed the glass on the table as I placed a smile on my face again, trying to hide what I believed was a disgusted face.

"He's alright. He'd like to visit soon, but neither of us has had enough time recently. He misses you all." I looked at the young girls. "Specially you two."

"Well, you should escape and come here." Said Ryoo and I chuckled before feeling nauseous.

"Its not that simple, sweetheart." Sola intervened as she stroke her hair gently.

"It should be." Said Pooja. "It would be more fun." I smiled and nodded.

"You're right, it should be." That's when I couldn't contain it anymore. "Excuse me." I got up abruptly from the table and walked quickly to the bathroom.

  Once in, I closed the door behind me and moved fast towards the toilet. I vomited. I ended up feeling like shit when I grabbed a piece of toilet paper to clean my lips and flushed the water as I reclined my back against the glass door of the shower.

Seconds later I got up, washed my hands and my mouth with water. When I spit the water, I walked back to the dining room, where everyone was eating.

"Sorry." I apologised as I sat down.

"Are you okay?" Asked Padmé.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine." I smiled and crossed my arms over my stomach. I frowned again. "I'm sorry, Mom. But I...am not hungry anymore." She shrugged with a worried gaze, not minding about it, only worried about me.

"Didn't sound fine, though." Said Sola.

"You heard all that?" She nodded with a smile and I laughed. "I'm so sorry. That's terrible." They laughed alongside me. At this point they were almost done and the girls were taking their plates to the sink before going to the gardens to sit and watch the landscape.

"Did you feel sick?" Asked Dad.

"A little. I don't know, my senses just went crazy and then...that happened."

"Your senses?" Asked the middle child.

"Yeah, you know, smell and taste." Sola frowned. "I smelled the chicken and lost my appetite, then the lemonade and felt nauseous. Then I had to run. But I'm fine." I looked at the eldest sister and saw how her smile dropped. I frowned as well. "What?"

"How long has this been happening?"

"I don't know. It's not a permanent thing, it's been happening on and off for about three weeks or so." Everyone looked concerned. "I know it sounds bad but, honestly, I'm fine. I don't feel bad at all. I'm okay." Sola frowned more.

"Personal question, are you late?" She asked.

"Late for what?" She rolled her eyes.

"Your period." Everyone's eyes opened like plates and my dad's focused on his empty plate.

"A very personal question. One that I won't like to answer as you finish your meal." I started thinking.

"Well, I'd like you to."

"Why?"

"Because it's important."

"Important how? What are you implying?" She looked at me, a bit coldly but happily at the same time. If that makes any sense.

"I went through all of that when I was pregnant." The place went silent and I started thinking. I was late. Quite late. around three weeks late. "The vomiting is in the mornings right? And sometimes throughout the day, but rarely." My silence was enough answer. "That's called morning sickness. Very common throughout the first stage."

"I can't." My Mom's eyes opened wildly as she covered a smile with her hands, Padmé looked at me, doing the same —only that she wasn't exactly smiling, she knows the difficulty of this situation— and Dad simply looked at me. "I- I'm a Jedi. I can't be pregnant."

"You couldn't get married and look, Mom was just asking about Anakin."

"But that's different. I can hide my marriage from others but I can't hide a pregnancy. Not to mention that I'm fighting a war, I'm constantly fighting on the trenches. Just a few weeks ago, I almost bled to death."

"What?" Everyone asked at the same time. I pursed my lips together and opened my eyes wildly before chuckling nervously.

"I forgot I hadn't mentioned that, but, it's not important now." My hands found my face as I thought about when could it have happened. Then the night in the bathtub came to mind. "Ugh...shit."

"Language." Said Mom and Dad chuckled. He finds it funny when I cuss.

"Sorry." I stood up. "I'm sorry, but I need to...I need to take a test or something and then go home and hope for the test not to be positive."

"You don't want a family?" Asked my mother with a soft sadness on her voice.

"Of course I do. We both do. But not now. I'm too young, my career is at its peak, and I had a plan, we had a plan and I'm just twenty, i'll turn twenty one in a month. We thought about starting a family post-war, not now." There was a silence. "I love you all, but I really need to leave." I explained and Padmé nodded before standing up. I nodded back. Sola ran out of the house, I didn't know where she had gone but she returned about ten minutes later. I waited for her, I don't want to leave and not say goodbye. I hate that.

We started to hug everyone and kissing cheeks goodbye, for now. Everyone said everything was going to be totally fine and that I should actually think twice about this, deeper than with anything other thought before. Not just go on instinct. I said that I would and moments later, when I hugged my older sister, she handed over a small box with a couple of pregnancy tests inside. I thanked her and she said that everything was going to be fine and that, whatever my decision was at the end, everyone was going to support it.

I hugged her tightly before we walked out of the house and made our way back to the Palace, where the ship was in their hangar. Once we were settled, I flew the ship out of the system and flew back to Coruscant.

We arrived in a little while, and minutes before we jumped out of hyperspace, I took the test and for my luck...it was positive. I kept it in a pocket of my belt where I knew no one would see it and we jumped out of hyperspace.

"So?" Asked Padmé.

"Positive." I answered as I sat on the pilot seat. She giggled with happiness, it was sort of contagious but I was still worried.

"I know it's not the best situation, but I'm happy for you. The two of you." I smiled a bit as we entered the atmosphere. We arrived at nighttime.

"Thank you."

"How are you gonna tell him?"

"I don't know." I sighed and she placed a hand on my shoulder as I landed the ship on her spot on the Senate.

"It will be fine. I'm sure of it." My eyes met hers and I smiled, she returned the gesture. "Breathe, think and try to relax. You'll be alright." I nodded and we stood up. I hugged her.

"Thank you."

"Of course." We walked out and when she had entered her office, I made my way to the Temple. I walked in and everything was calm, quiet, as it's this place's usual.

I started chewing on my lip as I looked for Skywalker all over the huge building. I was near the elevator that takes us to the Council Chambers when I bumped into him and the two Padawans. He's been taking care of Cal's training while I was out and not in the Temple. And I got it, Kestis wanted to be out in the action instead of here in the calmness.

"Master! It's great to finally see you." Said Cal with enthusiasm, making me smile.

"Hey, kiddo. Great so see you too. Hey, Snips."

"Hello, Smarty. It's been a while." I chuckled.

"Hey." Ani said as he saw me, for his eyes were glued to a holo-disk he had in hand as the kids greeted me. A huge smile on his lips now on display, he seemed to be in a rush though. The three of them. "How have you been?"

"Great, thanks." He smiled more.

"How's Padmé?"

"She's fine."

"That's good."

"Yeah it is. Hey, I need to talk to you...it's important." I told him and the smile faded a bit away.

"I understand, but, I'm on a rush. The Council agreed on meeting us. We have an important case for them." He said as he clicked the button that would call the elevator. "You should come along." I nodded as I let out a sigh through my nose.

The few seconds it took for us to arrive at the upper level were in a silence from the two adults while the two kids talked about the last mission they had gone to. Fighting the Separatists with the Light and Shadow Squadrons. Cal has been in charge of the 104th this whole time, only the Wolfpack, to be honest, but the Light squad technically comes along too.

We walked out and entered the Chambers few moments later. Everyone greeted me vividly and I greeted them back. I smiled at all of them but my smile turned sad when I saw the empty seat beside Obi-Wan. He sent me a sad glare before speaking.

"It's good to see you here, Allana." He smiled tenderly. I smiled back.

"Thank you, Kenobi. It's good to be back." I said.

"So, why are we here?" Windu asked calmly.

"Another Republic planet has fallen on Separatist hands." Explained Ahsoka. "Onderon. They've joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems under the rule of a new King."

"A group of rebels wants to take back the Capital. We wanted you to be here before answering their communications." Added Cal, who was just as informed of the case. I smiled, he looks so professional all the time. Not to brag, but I think I'm doing good. I looked at the empty seat and thought she'd be smiling at me as we nodded before stepping a bit away to leave room for the holograms to appear. Two guys appeared, one I haven't heard of in ages and another one I don't know anything about.

  The Council asked questions to hear and learn about the situation of the locals, then, the arguments on why the Republic should of not help started to flow.

"Unfortunately, the only way to reclaim Onderon will be through armed struggle." Said Lux Bonteri to my right. "But we lack sufficient hardware and supplies."

"Onderon is in your King's rule and at the outbreak of the Clone War he chose to align with the Separatists." Said Obi-Wan, calling everyone's attention.

"Our true King has been silenced." Said a tall guy that's next to Lux. "The one you recognise is a traitor and a Separatist minion." He looked at the Padawans, Anakin and I. "We need your help to survive this."

"Find a way, we shall." Said Yoda.

"We await your answer." Said Lux before bowing, sending a glare to Ahsoka and vanishing away when the transmission ended.

"There are pockets of rebels on many of these planets that just need guidance." Said Anakin. "With training and resources they could attack soft targets while the Republic continues to engage them on the battlefield."

"That sounds like terrorism, Anakin." I nodded at Obi-Wan's words. Anakin's intentions are good but the idea itself doesn't sound as good.

"Well, I think of it as an insurgency. To help realign these planets with the Republic."

"We can divide the Separatist forces and press them in two fronts." I offered in anyway.

"A means to an end fear cannot be." Said Master Yoda. "Stop those who spread terror the Jedi must."

"Indeed." Said Kenobi. "What you're suggesting would open up dangerous possibilities. And we must not train terrorists."

"Eh, rebels." I smiled discretely at Ani's correction.

"How we conduct war is what distinguishes us from others. Funding rebels with overthrow the legitimate government puts innocent lives at risk."

"We can minimise collateral damage by using arms that mainly affect droids." I said. "Like we did in Ryloth. We focused on the droids to free the people to avoid more death and destruction."

"The least we can do is help them defend themselves, test the tactic while we're at it." Said Windu. It surprised me to hear him agree this much on a plan of Anakin. Said guy chuckled.

"This could be a great new weapon for us." I frowned as many others in the room.

"Hmm." Yoda meditated. "Train and observe. Send advisors we will."

"I'll assemble a team." Skywalker offered.

"I'm going with you." Said Obi-Wan. Anakin chuckled again.

"What, you don't trust me?" I know Anakin did mean that even as he hid it as a joke. He was still hurt about the Council not trusting him about Kenobi's undercover mission. A part of me wondered if Obi-Wan knew as well, because I was sure the rest didn't. Kenobi just scoffed as he offered a kind smile. He knows. It hurts him, but he doesn't care. He never has.

"Too much. That's what worries me." He placed a hand on top of Anakin's shoulder for a second before letting it fall to his side as he spoke with honesty. "The five of us will go." Yoda nodded and we nodded back before walking out of the Chambers and all the way down.

"We're leaving now." Said Skyguy. "I've already signalled Rex. It will be the six of us only."

"What's the rush? Onderon is not that far." I asked.

"True. It's in the Inner Rim, but, I'd like to have a goodnight sleep there and start working at first hour in the morning. Plus, we'll be harder to spot that way, we're gonna be on Separatist territory after all." I raised my eyebrows, agreeing.

"Alright. I'll tell Wolffe he's in charge of the 104th. If we happen to need assistance, we'll need someone to be ready to go." He smiled at me as we hopped off the elevator and made our way towards the hangar. Once there, we met with the Captain of the 501st.

  After a hot minute of discussion on how we'll act, we hopped into a vessel that flew us there quickly. It didn't take that long before our arrival. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to talk to Anakin, not with so many ears near by and my heartbeat was rising by the minute.

"This is Valkyrie 2929. We're coming up on the drop zone." Said our Pilot and we all threw our robes over our shoulders before stepping near the door to wait for it to open. When it did, I placed the hood over my head and a trooper started yelling 'go' multiple times. That's when we jumped. When we landed on the ground, we looked up and saw the ship fly away.

Seconds later, Ahsoka and Cal jumped on top of the trees and ran through their branches while the rest of us continued on the ground. As we walked, I felt someone looking at us. I turned around to look over my shoulder and made everyone stop as well.

"What is it?" Asked Ani. My eyes scanned the darkness but saw nothing, no one.

"Nothing." I looked at him. "Lets keep moving." We went on for a couple more minutes before a figure riding some creature popped in front of us, growling and blocking the way.

"Stay were you are!" A female voice commanded and we saw multiple people surrounding us.

"Too much for 'nothing'." Said Kenobi.

"Shut up." I told him.

"Identify yourselves." The girl demanded and we took off our hoods.

"It's alright. We're friends." Said Anakin.

"Jedi." There was a tone of surprise on her voice. Witty and Snips jumped off the trees and landed on a side of where we were, taking off their hoods as well.

"I'm Commander Tano." She informed. "We're here to help you take back your planet."

"My name is Steela." Said the girl. "I'll guide you to our secret base."

"Thank you." I said and she nodded back before riding through the forest. We followed behind closely and we all walked the entire night. We arrived by daybreak. "I guess you won't have your goodnight sleep." I mocked Anakin, who only rolled his eyes with a soft smile on his features.

As we approached a stone arch, we saw two flying creatures, one of them stood on top of said arch. A guy was riding said creature and looked coldly at us. I think he's the guy from the transmission.

People were talking and laughing until we entered the place to look at us. And it was the same: a cold glare. Too cold for a welcome.

"Hmm." Obi-Wan thought. "A bit rough around the edges, wouldn't you say?"

"That's what we said about these two here, and look." I joked as I pointed at the Padawans, who rolled their eyes with smiles of amusement.

"And that's precisely why I brought Rex here." Ani answered his Master's question.

"They're not exactly what I would call shinies, sir." Said Rex. "But, I could work with them." He added. That's when the guy finally rode down his dragon looking ride and hopped off of it to approach us.

"General Skywalker." He said.

"At your service." Said Anakin, offering a smile. "These are Generals Naberrie and Kenobi, Commander Tano, Captain Rex and Padawan Kestis." Each one of us bowed our heads as he named us. He nodded.

"We're looking forward to taking the fight to those scrappin' droids." He added and as Steela stood beside him, I acknowledged how similar they are. I smiled at them as I assumed they're siblings.

"Yes. All in good time." Said Obi-Wan.

"Saw. Saw Gerrera." He finally introduced himself as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"He fashions himself as our leader." Said Steela. "Though no one elected him." She added, punching his arm. Classic sibling energy. Saw smiled and shook his head.

"Well, for now, we're in charge." I said. "And I think there's much to learn." They looked at each other. "Shall we?"

"This way." Said Saw and I took off my robe to place it near a corner. Right next to the sleeping tents of the camp.

In no time, Saw gathered everyone around us near a closed area. The walls around us helped us make our voices reach every pair of ears that were nearby. We introduced ourselves before starting their training.

"The Separatists have strengths in numbers." Anakin spoke. "We're gonna show you how to target and destroy them."

"Now, to be clear, we are not here to fight your war." Obi-Wan spoke, looking at Skywalker. "Rather, to show you how to conduct it in the most efficient and successful way possible." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Captain Rex." Anakin stepped back as the clone trooper stepped forward to start his part of the briefing.

"I'll show you how the 501st destroys clankers. First, I need volunteers to carry supplies from our entry point and halfklick west."

"Shouldn't be a problem." Said Saw.

"Excellent." He started moving and many followed, including the Padawans. I smiled as I saw Snips talking to Lux. We don't talk about if or if they don't have a thing, and I don't ask. That's none of my business. But I do like the way they work together, both of them have great and agile minds that are always well based on their values and principles. That's admirable.

  Obi-Wan said he'd have a look around to check on what the rebels did have and set training areas. That left Anakin and I alone. He smiled at me as we stood by a holo-table.

"So...you said you wanted to talk?" He said and I took a deep breath.

"I did." I looked at him.

"It sounded serious."

"It is."

"Well, I'm all ears." He crossed his arms over his chest. I breathed in and out.

"Right. I'll go straight to the point."

"Okay..."

"I'm pregnant." I whispered and his arms fell to his side. "Around three weeks or so, I guess." He almost chocked with air.

"You serious?"

"Yeah." I pulled the test out of my pocket, showed it to him and when he saw the two lines his eyes opened wildly. "Took it this afternoon." I kept it again as I sighed. "What are we going to do?" His lips traced a smile and his eyes stared filling a bit with tears as his hands found my shoulders.

"What do you wanna do?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well...I don't know what to say." I chuckled.

"I'd like you to say something."

"All I can think of is that you need to be calm. Both of us. That you have to be extremely careful." I chuckled. "And...that we won't worry about it now, we can figure it out later on. But soon." He smiled even brighter. "This is a blessing." I smiled back at him. "A baby." He whispered as he shook me back and forward a bit, jokingly, making me giggle. "We'll figure it out. We always do." I nodded and he hugged me for a second before I push him away as I saw Obi-Wan walking backwards towards where we were, still calculating spaces. He then turned around.

  Few moments later, everyone that had gone with Rex returned and Obi-Wan asked us all to follow him. When we arrived at an open area, the Captain started to settle everything. We started off strong by teaching them how to deactivate a tank.

"The pilot in the front seat controls the tank, the shells and the short range blasters." Cal started to explain once everyone had settled. "The commander in the top hatch controls the turret and the main cannon. You have to take out both chambers, otherwise the tank will remain operational." He pointed at the machine as he spoke. When he was done, he turned at Rex and nodded. The trooper nodded back before demonstrating how to get the task done.

  He jumped on top of the tank, opened the first chamber and threw a deactivating grenade inside before jumping, grabbing the main cannon to impulse himself up and walked towards the second one, throw another grenade into the second chamber and jump down. Seconds later, an electric blue web wrapped itself around the tank and deactivated it, for it stopped floating. Everyone was surprised by this.

"Everyone, divide up into teams of two and we'll practice an assault on both hatches." Anakin instructed and they did as he said. The ones standing at the front of the line were Lux and Saw. They exchanged a few words, that I couldn't hear clearly, before Saw pushed Lux gently and Rex threw the grenades at them with an encouraging smile.

  They got to work, Saw went for the bottom while Lux went for the top. When Bonteri tried to climb the cannon as he grunted, a misstep made him fall and he dragged Gerrera with him. Both of them hit the ground roughly.

"Sorry about that." Said Lux as he offered a hand to help Saw up, but he slapped it away.

"You're a terrible soldier, Bonteri." He said and stood up by himself. I feel bad for Lux. The guy has always been a political, like his mother. He's stronger with words than with his body. I sighed.

  "The boy doesn't seem to be the fighter type." I whispered as I placed my hands behind my back.

"Yeah." Anakin whispered back as he stood to my right.

"I'm not sure if they're more interested in fighting the droids or each other." Obi-Wan added as we walked to the back to observe from afar.

"Keep your hopes up, Kenobi." I offered a smile at the skeptical man. "They'll learn."

"Agreed." Ani backed me up. "We just need time to train them properly." I nodded.

"Anyhow, keep your eyes on the quick learners." He pointed at those as the rest continued to do the exercise under Rex's command and the Padawans' closer observation. "In this fight, time is not on our side."

  Obi-Wan returned by Ahsoka and Cal's side while we stood in the back. From there we could see how, even if he's not the official leader, Saw called the shots here. And people listened to him, they respect him. Legitimate or not, he's a good leader. I admire that, specially for being such a young man. He's probably a couple years older than Snips. We then saw him argue with Lux again. Steela was the one to calm things down.

"Why do you think Saw doesn't like Lux?" Asked Anakin.

"I don't know. Maybe because he used to be a part of the Separatists. He grew up there, not to mention that Mina was part of their Senate and they took over his world." I looked at Skywalker and he was narrowing his eyes at the teenagers. Then a coy smile made it's way through his lips.

"I think there's something else."

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because I think it has to do something with Steela. Saw and Steela look a lot alike, which means they're obviously siblings. Which means he's overprotective of her." I chuckled and we looked away as Saw walked away from where the boy and his sister were.

"You just like gossip." He shrugged and nodded in agreement.

  "The group has finished, Master." Cal informed.

"Good." I said. "Everyone, follow me. Next lesson." We started to walk back to the main part of the base. "Rex, could you settle the droids, please?"

"Yes, ma'am." In no time, three destroyers were placed before the group. I stood forward. I nodded when he nodded at me.

"Thank you, Captain." I looked at the group that had settled before us. "Alright. Deactivating tanks it's more simple because they're slow and we can use that to our advantage, but, these droids are very different." I started my briefing. "They're quick, packed with twin blasters and come with their own shield generators. Nothing short of a cannon will pierce it. However, they do have two weaknesses and you will need to work together to exploit them." I nodded at Rex and he clicked a button on his glove that activated the droid. "The shields deflect high velocity attacks." Rex fired his blaster at it and the shield deflected the blasts. "What the shields don't stop are slow or stationary objects." I looked at Ahsoka and she stepped forward, holding a deactivating grenade. "They're designed to absorb them so nothing hinders their movement." Tano activated and threw the grenade, making it roll over the ground until it slowly entered the shield. Seconds later, it was deactivated.

"Destroyers are blind from behind." Said Snips. "A distraction combined with a rear assault will give you a kill. The trick is to get the right speed on the droid popper." She added as she made eye contact with them all. I realised the way one of them was looking at her. Rex activated the droids and their shields appeared.

"These are unarmed." He pointed out as he showed them all the poppers. "Just concentrate on getting it past the shield." Saw raised his hand and Rex threw him a grenade, that he caught midair.

"Watch and learn." He said, looking specially at Bonteri. I tolerate cocky people, I hang out with five of them on a daily basis. I myself can be cocky. But I don't like it when people make their own feel bad. One thing is pissing off the enemy, another is make an ally feel stupid. So, naturally, my eyes rolled at the comment.

  He threw the popper a bit too fast, for it didn't go through the shield, it bumped it and rolled a bit back. Saw frowned.

"Quite brilliant." Said Lux with sarcasm. He looked at Ahsoka and she threw him a popper that he caught as well. He looked at it, threw it up, caught it and threw it towards the droid. It went past the shield smoothly.

"Hmm." Snips thought. "Nice touch." The guy looked at us all. I was smiling and I bet the rest was too. Lux smiled back.

"Thanks." I saw how Steela frowned behind him as she looked at Ahsoka. I smiled more and poked Anakin's ribs softly. He looked at me and I pointed with my eyes at the girls. He realised quickly. When he looked back at me, he smiled more.

"Not bad." Said Steela as she gave a step forward. She looked coldly at Ahsoka and extended her hand. Anakin said 'oh' in a whisper and I cleared my throat to avoid laughing as Snips threw her a grenade. Steela caught it and threw it forward. It rolled over the ground, but just like with Saw, it didn't go past the shield. "Ugh." She complained.

"Be mindful of your frustration." Said Obi-Wan. Finally intervening on this. "It'll only hold you back." Lux stepped forward and started to help her out by moving her arm back and forward slowly to show her the tactic. I saw how Saw looked at them and shook his head before my eyes flew towards Ahsoka, her eyes opened wildly. She looked down and whispered something, a bit too loud as for her words to reach my ears. 'Great'. I smiled sadly at her.

"Okay, let's get back to work." Rex called the attention. "Everyone pair up. We'll practice in groups." Ahsoka stepped forward towards Lux, but he walked away with Steela. That's when Saw approached her and they left to deal with the first group while Cal helped the second one. We just stood back and looked at them.

  About forty minutes went by and most of them got it right. Saw and Steela were the ones that struggled the most. After a while, he made it but she couldn't. We saw how Snips talked to Steela after she had walked away from the rest. I smiled to myself.

"You know something." Ani whispered as he looked forward.

"I do." I whispered back, doing the same. "But I won't tell you anything."

"Come on." I chuckled.

"It's not my place." He rolled his eyes and we laughed. Although I stopped chuckling when I sensed something behind us. I looked over my shoulder and he stopped laughing too.

"What is it?"

"I don't know." I continued to scan the plants behind us, trying to spot that something.

"Hey." Anakin called my attention. "They're done." I nodded. "Everyone! We're moving on to blaster training."

"Give them five minutes. They've worked nonstop since we arrived." He smiled at me.

"Fine." He looked at them. "You have five minutes before we start. Go get hydrated." They all sighed in relief. I smiled at them, specially at the young Jedi that were walking towards us.

  "You're doing good." I complimented them.

"Thanks, Smarty." Said Cal. "It's fun to be the teacher."

"Most of the times." Said Anakin. The kids rolled their eyes.

"Keep it that way." I stood up from the rock I was sitting on as I sighed. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Asked Snips.

"Investigate something." I answered.

"Can I go?" Asked Cal. I looked at him before looking at Anakin.

"Sure. C'mon." We smiled at each other.

"Careful. We don't know if they're out there." That was true, but I could always read in between lines. I knew that he just meant to say 'be careful'. I smiled and nodded before walking away alongside Cal. If he worried for me before, he's going to worry even more. Double to be precise.

  "So...what are we looking for?" Asked Cal after ten minutes, more or less.

"I have no idea, to be honest." I moved the leave of a palm tree out of my way.

"Right." I smiled. "What's the feeling you had? I assume that's why we're here, looking for...we don't know what."

"It felt as if we were being observed."

"Hmm. A prob, maybe?"

"That's the most logical idea." I looked at him and he smiled. That's when I heard something in the distance. I raised my fist and he stopped on his tracks. Then, I saw the tree leaves moving. "Get down." We hid with the thick bushes and saw the droid floating by. "You were right."

"We both were." I smiled. "Do we let it come close?" I shook my head.

"Pull it." He nodded, stood up and pulled it towards us with the Force. I turned on my lightsaber —that used to be Adi's— and the blue blade cut the droid by the half. Then, I turned my saber off. "Good team effort." We high-fived each other.

"What now?"

"We go back and warn them." He nodded. "Throw half of it over there in the open. Maybe that way they'll see that we know about them spying on us." He grabbed it with the Force and threw it over to said area, while I dragged the other part.

"I forgot to tell you something."

"What?"

"I dreamt with Master Gallia the other day." I looked at him. "She said hello, and that you're very hard to talk to." It was my turn to stop on my tracks. "I don't remember the rest, and I didn't understand what did she mean by that. Do you?"

"No...I wish I did though." He smiled sadly.

"I miss her." I smiled sadly too. They spent a lot of time together. Adi was almost always around on our training sessions and few missions, whenever we went solo. They became good friends.

"Me too, kid. Me too." He pushed me gently with his forearm and I chuckled when I pushed him back. Ten minutes later, we were back at the base and they were still practicing with the blasters. We saw how Steela shot multiple heads of disarmed droids in seconds. "Impressive." I said once we had approached the group, calling everyone's attention.

"That's exactly what I said." Anakin commented with a smile. He frowned when he saw the piece of metal in my hand. "What's that?" I threw it at the center of where we all were.

"A probe." I looked at the rest. "At least what's left of it." The rebels seemed a bit confused. "These droids are used for espionage and exploration. They can transmit video and sometimes audio to central command. We found this one in the jungle, I don't know if there are others out there."

"So that means..." Lux started.

"That they know our position and what we've been doing." I said. "I don't doubt a squad is on their way here."

"I agree." Said Steela, as she looked through her sniper lens. Everyone looked at the area she was focused on.

"Droids!" Yelled Saw. That's a lot of droids. A huge squad. And there are very few of us.

"Take cover!" Yelled Rex when one of the superdroids fired a bazooka. The rocket made impact close to where we were. We jumped backwards as we turned our lightsabers on and started deflecting the blasts back to them.

  Seconds later, Ani, Obi-Wan and I moved forward to work as the rebels' shield until they had found cover, that's when we started to move back until we found a small place where to cover ourselves.

"It appears training is over." Said Kenobi.

"No shit, Sherlock." I said as the droids got closer by the minute. I stood up and continued to deflect the blasts, as well as my peers. The rebels fired the blasters and it really amazed me the effectiveness of every single shot Steela fired. She aced for their metallic heads every time.

"I'll take the left flank if you take the right." Anakin said as he looked at Obi-Wan.

"No, Anakin." Answered the Jedi Master. "We can only protect them. We cannot fight this war for them." I bent down again to hide from the blasts.

"There are too many. Even if we just defend, there are not enough of them to fight back." Obi-Wan thought for a second before turning to Steela.

"We can hold them off while you get your people out of here." He said as Anakin and I stood up again to continue deflecting the blasts of the droids that were getting closer and closer with every second that went by.

"You didn't teach us to run!" She complained. She kind of has a point, but still. We have more experience as to know when is a good moment for retreat. She clicked her comlink. "Saw, use our disruptors to take out the droids." In a couple seconds, we saw how Gerrera and a few other of his men threw the disruptors at the droids. By this time, those were the last ones of the first attack.

"Not bad." Anakin complimented the tactic.

"I'm afraid to tell you that those were only the first wave." I said as I turned my weapons off and clipped the silverish handles to the belt on both sides of my hips. When the smoke cleared out, it revealed a tank. I breathed in. "Oh, shi-" The first blast impacted the ground near the apprentices and the rebels while the second one was near us. We had to cover our eyes from the smoke. I frowned. "We'll handle this." I said as I looked at Steela.

"No. I will." She moved the blaster she had in hand to where my head was. "Duck." She instructed and I bent down, as well as the two gentlemen that were behind me. The blasts she fired hit the gates that kept the creatures they ride to transport themselves. She opened them and they were set free. I smiled when I saw what she was doing.

  Those creatures took the droids down as they ran. That's when we spotted Saw and Lux running towards the tank. They threw poppers in and seconds after Snips had closed the chamber at the top, it exploded. We had to take cover from the debris that flew in all directions. When we stood back up, Steela ran to aid Lux while Ahsoka helped Saw. Moments later, we gathered at the middle of the area in between spare parts, dirt and smoke.

"Take confidence from this victory." Said Kenobi. "But rest assured, there will be more droids coming now that they know your position."

"It doesn't matter. You're ready now." Said Anakin, optimistically to encourage them. "We are going to take the fight to the droids. You don't have to hide in the jungle any longer."

"Droids were a bit dim, more so than I imagined." Saw commented.

"They make up for it in numbers." Said Snips.

"They're designed to overwhelm." Witty added.

"But they're not designed to deal with our approach." I frowned with a smile. Since when is Skyguy so optimistic? I found it sweet.

"We'll hit them where they least expect it." Lux shared Ani's optimism. "And before they realise what happened—"

"We fade in with the rest of the population." Steela completed Bonturi's idea. I smiled at the way they formed a plan within seconds. I always admire that.

"Exactly." I said.

"We'll need a plan to get inside the city." The ones that know me looked at me. I shrugged and crossed my arms. I wanted to know what these guys could do and think of.

"I have an idea." Said Lux with a smile.