Recording III

Obi-Wan Kenobi

"And has there been no word from Anakin?" Obi-Wan Kenobi asked, maintaining an even stride beside Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu as they walked down a hall in the Jedi Temple.

"None," Mace replied. "We have reason to believe that their communications were knocked out. I'm assuming that the enemy forces were far greater than Skywalker realized. I fear he underestimated them."

"He wouldn't have," he said, quickly jumping to his former padawan's defense. As Anakin ad his methods were often open to questioning and criticism from members of the High Jedi Council, of which he was a part, he had grown used to looking after the Chosen One's reputation. "Perhaps he simply misjudged the time it would take to defeat the enemy."

"Perhaps..." The Jedi's expression was neutral, but there was doubt in his mocha-colored eyes. Doubt in Anakin's abilities that had been there ever since he had been discovered as the Chosen One.

"But I do not understand why the Chancellor refuses to send him reinforcements!" Obi-Wan crossed his arms, burying his clenched fists in his robe. "My entire legion is here on Coruscant, ready for action. Commander Cody and I are in a position to grant him aid; aid that I promised him!"

"Worry for your old padawan, you do," Yoda said suddenly, smiling up at him from his floating dais. "Worry too much, maybe. "Worry for your new one, you should!" He chuckled, then returned to his usual seriousness. "Trust in the Force, you must, Obi-Wan. And with Anakin, strong the Force is. The Chosen One, he is."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, Master. I'll try to do... better..."

He trailed off, suddenly conscious, as the other two Masters were, of faint booms coming from nearby. But the walls of the Jedi Temple were made of a sort of stone that was nearly soundproof – which meant that the noises were actually far louder than what they could hear.

Heightening his Jedi senses so that he could hear better, he realized that there was the wail of alarms underlying the rumbling from earlier. He ran the few steps separating him from the large, clear window nearby, and gasped.

A vulture droid firing at a police speeder suddenly zoomed past the window, and he knew what had happened. The noises he had heard were the warning system for attackers and fire alarms, and the booms were the sounds of explosions!

Coruscant was under Separatist attack!

Anakin Skywalker

Anakin tore a panel off the wall, which was the covering a cavity full of wires, and stared at the maze of blues, greens and reds inside. It was going to take some work, but he knew that he was going to be able to work the hyperdrive into doing an automatic jump to a preprogrammed location: directly into the center of the droid control center.

"Is everyone off the Intrepid yet?" he asked Rex, who had just arrived, not even looking up from his work. He pulled a tiny wire clipper from his belt, and proceeded to cut and then realign certain cables.

"Almost, sir. Three squadrons are staying behind until you're finished with whatever you're planning."

"All right." Rex turned to go, but Anakin stopped him. "But make sure that they stay near the remaining pods. We're going to need to make a fast exit."

"Yes sir."

He made a final adjustment to his intricate web of wires, then slammed the panel back on. "Okay, Rex – now it's time to go."

There would be no time now for a dignified exit, with cloaks flying and an awe-inspiring explosion at their backs. Anakin and Rex sprinted down the hallway towards the escape pods, which were thankfully on the same level.

As they arrived, the remaining troopers stood to attention, blasters ready for an incoming attack. He and Rex ushered them into the remaining pods, not even stopping to explain what was going on. But the troopers were used to it; they had learned to trust their General's judgment, for as crazy as his plans could get, he almost always knew what he was doing.

Anakin, Rex and the two other troopers who would be sharing their pod with them waited until everyone was inside, before climbing inside. The Jedi Knight pushed a button on his comlink, which he had programmed to jettison the escape pods into space at his signal.

He watched through the viewport as the pod flew further and further away from its mother ship, and couldn't help but feel a little saddened. The Intrepid had been his flagship on many occasions... And now she was going to go down to win the Republic a battle.

He had never understood why he was so attached to everything. Some speculated that it was because he had joined the Jedi Order so late, others that it was some strange power of his as the Chosen One. Objects, machines, ships, people... He could fall in love with them and never fall out.

Which led to another thought: Padme.

He had been thinking about her incessantly for the months that he had been away from Coruscant. Her chocolate-brown hair, her beautiful eyes, the special, radiant smile she had just for him. He loved her so much, and it made him ache when he was away from her.

But in battle, any good commanding officer knew how to suppress pain. He could hide the pain from wounds, and he could hide the pains from his powerful mind. And right now, he had a job to do.

"All right, Rex," Anakin said to his captain. "It's time to set off the fireworks."

Then he pushed the button. With a flicker of pseudomotion, the ship disappeared, only to reappear directly in front of the Separatist command ship. A moment later, as the two ships collided, there was an explosion of incredible force.

"I take it that's the sound of another Republic victory, General?" Captain Rex said, and he could tell that he was smiling under his helmet.

He glanced at a chart reporting on the pod's scanners' findings. The amount of active battle droid signals had decreased dramatically. The last few were in one of the cruisers, and there wouldn't be enough left to man the ship. Even while wounded, the other Republic battle cruisers would have no trouble taking the last few out.

An additional slap in the Confederacy's face would be that the Republic, having won the battle in space, would get to salvage the site, using the metal that the Separatists had paid a large sum for to build more of their own ships.

At that thought, Anakin smiled. "It is, Rex, it sure is. That's the sound of victory, and another star in the 501st's records."