know you guys have done it. Why can't we be afforded the same luxury?"
Rex's faced changed. Anakin noted that his eyes became full of the life, which marked him as Rex. It was strange to note that for a split second, Rex seemed not to be there and not to be in control of himself. It was odd behavior. Anakin would have to ask the next Kaminoan he saw about it. Unfortunately, in the middle of the war, Kaminoans were few and far between. They didn't like to leave their home world.
"Alright," Rex said with the strength returning to his voice. "I'll do it, if that is what you are ordering."
"I'm ordering it," Anakin said and headed down to the end of the range. He could forgive a slight hiccup by his captain. They couldn't always be on. "Give it your best shot."
Rex breathed in and held his blaster at arm's length. He exhaled and pulled the trigger. He hoped this wouldn't end up landing him in the brig for killing his general.
The Showdown
"How long has he been down here?" Obi wan asked as he knelt next to Rex, who had discarded his helmet next to his feet and was now wiping sweat from his face with a gloved hand.
"Well sir," Rex said his voice . "I've gone through six fully charged energy cells and I think there have been four other guys after me. It's been a long time."
Obi-wan stood and looked down the firing range toward Anakin. Anakin was deep in meditation, his blue blade whirling from side to side as he deflected bolt after bolt which was being aimed towards him by the skilled hand of a clone. His hair was matted to his head with sweat. Obi-wan thought it was time to call it off. Ahsoka had come to get him because she was concerned for Anakin's well being and he could see why.
"Cease fire!" Obi-wan called to the clone who had just stepped in to take place of the one who had emptied his energy cell. The clone lowered his weapon and turned to face Obi-wan. "Yes sir," the clone said and holstered his weapon.
"Anakin!" he called to his former padawan. "Don't you think you should give these clones a rest. They have work that they will need to be doing soon and having them be too tired is not good strategy."
Anakin nodded and strode towards Obi-wan, a scowl plastered securely on his face. "I'm just trying to work things out about Hypori," Anakin said and ran his gloved hand through his wet hair making it stand on end. He hadn't realized he had been fighting for so long. Time had slowed to a crawl when he had touched the force, minutes became hours.
"There are other ways we can think these things out," Obi-wan said clamping Anakin on the shoulder. "Maybe we should go up to the tactical command center and talk about it. Now that you have cleared your head with the force, the ideas will come to you easily."
Anakin shrugged. Obi-wan was obviously teaching him another lesson about the force. Anakin didn't go through his usual resentment routine though, he just felt weary and tired. "We should include Cody and Rex," Anakin said gesturing towards Rex who was sitting nearby.
"I think that we should talk privately first," Obi-wan said pointing towards Ahsoka. "Padawan Tano will need to be included."
Anakin looked from Obi-wan to Ahsoka and his eyes narrowed. This would be the lecture that Anakin had been waiting on ever since he had taken Ahsoka out of the leadership role. Ahsoka would have to command a large group of troops for this assault and he knew there was no way around it. Maybe that is why he had tried so hard to bury himself in the force, so that he didn't have to make this hard decision. The time had come though and he had to resign himself to the facts. It would take all of them leading troops to be able to come out the winner on Hypori.
"As you wish," Anakin said and stalked off towards the turbolift. It would be hard enough to plan the strategy without having to worry about what would happen to Ahsoka while she was leading troops. Obi-wan surely had this all planned out and now Anakin would be forced to follow along, like the good padawan, although he had stopped being a padawan a long time ago.
He was angry with Obi-wan for this whole situation and he knew he shouldn't be. There was no one else close by to blame and Anakin would be sure to let his former master know exactly what he thought of his plan when they were in private and Ahsoka wasn't eavesdropping. She didn't need to hear that he thought she shouldn't be in the lead.
"Are you coming?" Anakin asked as he entered the turbolift and faced them. He raised an eyebrow at Ahsoka and Obi-wan beckoning them to come along.
The Padawan and The Master
Anakin bit his lip as Obi-wan laid out the details of the three-pronged attack they would be using on Hypori. It made the most sense for Anakin to lead the air assault (or so he was being told, which he didn't like.), being the best pilot in the group, that would herald the incoming detachments led by Obi-wan and Ahsoka. The problem was that Ahsoka had been given an entire detachment to lead and she had little experience. She would only have Rex by her side to help her and that was disturbing to Anakin. After all, wasn't he her master and responsible for her safety? What would he tell the council if she perished due to his lack of guidance?
He fidgeted as Obi-wan continued to explain where he was to be and how things were to go during the fight, as if he already knew how it would be in fact. It was hard to pay attention because the voices in his head were screaming for him to say something about this plan and his lack of faith in it. To voice his protest about what was going to happen on the surface while he was stuck in the air dropping bombs that would do little or no damage. Instead, he continued chewing on his bottom lip and tried to concentrate on the plan that was to unfold above the droid manufacturing facility.
"As you fly assault," Obi-wan said in a calm tone, gesturing to the holographic display with his hand. "Ahsoka will lead her detachment in from this side and I will flank from the other side."
Anakin's eyes flew over the scenario taking in all the factors and making a map inside of his head of where he would be. Determining how the scenario would finally play out. There were so many things wrong with the projection of how the battle would be fought. "When do I land?" he asked still thinking about how he was going to save them from themselves. After all it was his mission to keep everyone safe because he was, as they had always said, the hero without fear and the Chosen One. If only they knew what he really was. Knew the fear that laid inside of his heart as he projected calm on the outside. It was there just waiting to spring from his body and consume him. This mission might prove it's chance to be released and the real Anakin Skywalker would then be known to all that he had fooled for so many years.
"There will be a rendezvous point three clicks from the battle," Obi-wan said highlighting a part of the blue colored map which showed a point outside of the true fighting. "Here you will refuel and restock armament for the second and third pass."
"I'm flying during this whole thing?" Anakin asked the worried tone in his voice rising as he thought of the consequences. He hadn't planned on not being able to be involved in the ground assault in anyway. He wanted to get his hands dirty. It was where he knew he could do the most good. This made Anakin unhappy. Obi-wan merely shook his head in the affirmative and clicked back through maps to the tactical display and began laying out the plan again.
Anakin rose and started pacing around the map trying to take in all the different perspectives and make a whole picture which he hoped would somehow start to make sense to him. Nervousness always got the best of him in situations where he felt like he couldn't control what was happening and this was one of those times. Obi-wan had engineered this whole plan and it didn't look good to his eyes and somewhere in the pit of his stomach, it didn't feel good either. There had to be another way to take care of this place. There just had to.
"I don't like the plan," Anakin said finally being deadly serious, his voice very low and controlled. If he didn't voice his opinion now, he would never get the chance and he would find himself soaring above Hypori and blasting a factory that was buried underground. It would do no good and those that he held dear in his heart would be underground dying. There would be nothing he could do to stop it.
"Excuse me?" Obi-wan said and looked at his former padawan. His mouth was a tight line as he looked at Anakin and raised his eyebrows disapprovingly. Anakin knew that look. It was the way Obi-wan tried to tell Anakin that they didn't disagree in public. "I didn't think this was negotiable."
Anakin laughed and then realized that it was out loud which he shouldn't have done. His hand shot up and covered his mouth like a child who had experimented with his first curse word and been caught. Everything, and Anakin meant everything, with Obi-wan was negotiable. He'd learned that when he'd been 10 and trying to get out of some of the exercises which were remedial which meant that Anakin would've been in the classroom with children half his age. All it had taken was a little negotiating with the "great negotiator" and he didn't have to go to the classes. Anakin knew at that moment that there was always a way to negotiate with Obi-wan.
"There are better ways we can use our resources," Anakin said plainly, looking Obi-wan straight in the eyes. "Why could it not be a complete ground assault? Obi-wan we've been in one of these Bactoid factories before on Geonosis and they are underground. An air assault would just waste our time and the munitions that we do have."