Meet You at the Dark Side

Chapter 2 - Skies of Teth

Indigo trees cover the rugged mountainous surface of the planet. The forest floor below is brown tinged with purple, and the sky itself is lavender, covered with white swirly clouds. As the gunships descend to the surface, Anakin's comm beeps. It's Obi-Wan.

"All right, Anakin, here's the story," he reports, "Jabba has given us only one planetary rotation to get his son back home to Tatooine safe and sound."

"Won't take us that long, Master," Anakin assures him cheerfully.

"Well, take extreme care," he warns, "We have no idea who's holding Jabba's son. When I've finished negotiations with him, I will join you." The hologram flickers off as he disconnects the call.

Between the swirling clouds, Anakin can make out large structures looming. His destination is the tallest of the bunch, the one they're heading straight towards.

The ship suddenly jolts wildly as an explosion rips past. Another shot from the tower ahead strikes one of the nearby ships and it bursts into flames. More shots ring out, some striking other ships.

"We're taking heavy fire!" calls the clone flying the ship.

"Close the blast shields, Lieutenant! Get us under those guns!" Anakin orders.

"Yes, sir. Here we go." The doors to the gunship slide shut, plunging it into darkness, which is illuminated momentarily by a red light. With a final jolt, the ship lands on the ground moments later and the doors slide open.

Anakin pulls off his outer robe, letting it fall to the floor of the gunship as he jumps out, lightsaber igniting in his mechanical hand. He runs forwards heading for the wall, the clones right behind. The droids from atop the wall open fire on the group, and the Republic cannons start shooting back. One blast hits its mark, and the area explodes along with the nearby droids.

The group continues moving forwards, finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the wall to take cover from the constant firing. Another droid moves to the very edge, trying to spot them with macrobinoculars. Anakin yanks it down with the Force, beheading it as it hits the ground, before turning to the finally readied clones. They fire grappling hooks up the wall.

"Rex, follow me!" Anakin calls, Force-jumping several feet up and catching onto the one nearest to him.

"Yes sir! Working on it," he replies.

Anakin begins his assent in the lead, holding on with one hand and deflecting blaster bolts from the battle droids shooting down at them with his right hand. The walkers are beginning to ascend the wall at his right, shooting up at the droids on top. He cuts through a falling super battle droid which gets close to him.

A sudden explosion rings out at the front foot of one of the walkers, nearly dislodging it. The same moment, danger flares through the Force, drawing his attention to the group of four battle droids on speeders flying towards them. They're shooting at the walkers, trying to knock them down before they get too high up the cliff. No, he's not going to let that happen. Unbeknownst to the foolish battle droids, their speeders provide Anakin with the perfect opportunity to end the battle faster.

He lets go of the rope going up the side of the lavender cliff, letting himself fall until he's close enough to the first speeder. Anakin's lightsaber slices through the droid, and he jumps to the next as soon as it's in range until they're all destroyed. He kicks the fourth off its speeder, spinning around and taking the seat.

Anakin flies the speeder upwards towards the top of the wall, shooting down the droids that pose the biggest threats as he goes. As he shoots down more of the droids, it gives the clones still trying to ascend the wall an easier time. By the time he nears the top, the intensity of the firing is increasing since the droids have a much better shot at him now. A stray bolt hits the speeder, and he jumps into the middle of the platform as the speeder bursts into flames.