Chapter Thirty-Two
Anakin

All of the clones are in position. The sun has finally set, casting the planet in a cloud of darkness allowing for our concealment. Each of the clones and Fallon are wearing night vision gear, giving them a clear view of the mindless droids marching on the ground below. Ashoka and I can rely on our senses to see, and I can sense her anticipation and excitement from where she stands on a branch next to me. I see what Fallon had said earlier; Ashoka is a lot like me. It has made me think of Obi Wan, what pain in the ass I must have been for him when I was her age. Obi Wan has said for years that I was an impossible student when I was a child and I always thought he was joking. Clearly he wasn't.

Ashoka, Fallon, and a group of twenty clones are hidden in the trees with me directly under the trade port station, where the droid commander is hiding. We get it, we get Bretta.

I look over to the tree next to mine where Captain Rex stands, nodding my head to him, giving him the signal to start. With a loud yell, Captain Rex gives the order to the clones, and I watch as blue blasts rain fire on the droids below. The droids shriek from below, looking up in confusion and beginning to blast at random parts of the trees, not having any clue as to where their targets are at.

I nod to Fallon, who begins to climb the rest of the tree with the rest of the clones. Ashoka and I jump from the branches we are on and land right onto the landing platform, looking down to see Fallon glare at us. Not wanting to wait for her to slowly climb the rest of the tree, I grab onto Fallon with the force and pull her up, hearing her shriek in shock. I grab onto her as she reaches the platform, watching her wrap her arms around me in fright. After she catches her breath, she lets go of me, looking rather flustered, but I don't know if that's from the jump or something else.

The rest of the clones make it to the platform, beginning to shoot at the droids heading our way. Ashoka and I ignite our lightsabers, deflecting the blasts as we take cover behind one of the supply crates. Fallon takes her blaster out and hits one of the droids right in the center of its head, making her smile proudly to herself.

I find myself smiling too, feeling a bit competitive. "Want to make a bet?"

She shoots another droid down, giving me a curious look over her shoulder. "We are literally in the middle of a battle...of course I want to make a bet. What's the bet?"

"I bet I can destroy fifty battle droids."

She grins. "I bet I could destroy sixty."

"You're on."

Ashoka rolls her eyes. "You guys are crazy," she says, hesitating before adding; "I can destroy seventy. If I win, I get to paint R2 bright green."

I deflect another blast, feeling an odd sense of humor and pride. "You are a devious little thing, you know that?"

She smirks. "I do, and I thank you for noticing." She says, before jumping on top of the crate and deflecting three blasts at once, destroying three droids. Fallon and I give each other a frantic look, stepping out from behind the crate and making our way towards the tank next to the building the logs are kept, where a droid sits pointing it's metal finger our way.

More droids send their blasts our way, and one by one the clones shoot them down; they have now made it further across the platform, still using the crates as cover. One clone in particular has a rapid fire blaster, and laughs loudly as he sprays the droids in front of him with blue blasts, making the droids hit the ground with loud clanks. Two clones are following Ashoka and guarding her back as she jumps from crate to crate, making the droids focus a lot of their attention on her. Part of me worries about her being so out in the open, but she seems to be handling herself well, too well in fact. I don't remember being this good when I was her age.

Fallon has my back as we make it closer to the tank, watching the glowing red eyes of the commander droid shout at the droids around it to snuff us out. I look around at the other clones, who are distracting most of the droids being sent after us. An idea springs into my head, and I look down to Fallon as she shoots down two more droids.

"I have a plan."

She sighs. "Well that can't be good. What's your plan?"

"I run up to the tank and cut it's barrel off, then launch you using the force to the commander droid. You place a charger on it and jump off before it goes off."

"Sounds reckless," Fallon begins, nodding her head after a moment. "Yeah, alright, I'm in. Just tell me before you launch me this time. You gave me a heart attack when you did it before."

I swing my lightsaber around once, grinning at her as I begin to run towards the tank. "Where would the fun in that be?" I yell to her, slicing through a droid as it approaches me, deflecting the block of another and send it back to the droid's chest. The commander droid sees me and sends a blast from the tank, making me jump out of the way to avoid it. It sends another blast and this one hits a couple of the clones, blasting them back into three large crates. I run up to the fallen crates and use them to launch myself at the tank. My chest hits the barrel and I wrap my arms around it, holding on as the commander droid spins it around in an attempt to make me fall off.

I steady myself long enough to cut the barrel off, making me fall to the ground in front of the tank. I turn my head around to see Fallon running towards the tank, and I reach my hand out to grab onto her with the force. I launch her at the tank in just enough time to roll out of the tank's way, avoiding being run over. Fallon lands right on top of the opening to the tank, smiling down at the droid. She places the charger on its head, watching it try to reach up and get it off, but it's arms aren't long enough. Fallon jumps down, landing in a crouch as the droid and the tank get electrocuted, crashing into the fallen crates a few feet away, bursting into flames.

"We got the commander droid," I huff into my comlink, trying to catch my breath. "How are you boys doing?"

"Good, sir!" I hear Rex shout, grunting slightly. "We almost got all of the droids down here, sir."

"Now that we have the headquarters, all that's left to take is the factory a few miles from here, that's where the supplies are packaged and made. Once we take that, then we can start getting supplies sent back to Taris."

"Yes, General. The boys and I will be done shortly, you want to join the fun?"

I look over to Fallon, who smirks at me. "My count is twenty four."

I sit myself up more, giving her a smug look. "I'm at thirty. Looks like I'm winning."

She doesn't look defeated. "For now."

Without looking away from her, I reply to Captain Rex, anticipation growing in me as I stand up. "Like you even have to ask." With that, the two of us sprint towards the end of the platform, jumping down to the trees below, decimating the last of the battle droids side by side.