Destruction of the Innocent (Anakin Skywalker)

Undercover

He was right. It was of upmost interest to me.

The last time we had faced off I was younger, and he came dropping bombs all over my city.

 Practically crashed his ship through my front gates. Walkers and destroyers began overtaking the streets, terrorizing and wreaking havoc. This sick little hide and seek game were playing is tiring; He doesn't get to hide this time.

    I made it to the bridge door and with a wave of my hand I made it whoosh open.

"General on deck!", was all I heard before the shuffle of chairs scraping across the floor all at once. every had their full attention towards me, saluting me.

"At ease", I nodded with another wave of my hand.

One thing I didn't notice, was that my Father was not one amongst the deck. At least not yet. Which meant he wasn't much farther behind me. 

When I closed my eyes in concentration, I tried to sense his presence but couldn't. I had to get off this ship before he could.





     My walk slowed as I reached the main control panel at the front of the room, looking out into the void that was space. Sure enough, there it was. The battleship of my nightmares, creeping ever so closer with every second that passed. It didn't look as though it's even taken a dent.


     I poked the inside of my cheek in anger and turned on my heel to the radar system.

"Ziza?", I call over my shoulder.

 A pair of thick eyebrows and long black curls greets me over the monitor with a waiting expression, "Ma'am?"

"What's going on? I need a damage report, what am I looking at?", I asked as I walked and leaned over the panel.
 
She started to say something but closed her mouth again as she caught herself. "I-I'm not entirely sure, Your Highness. But I've been given specific orders not to release any information to anyone other than-"

"Ziza?", I raise my eyebrows, leaning on my elbows and she looks up from her monitor, "My Father isn't here. You can cut the shit. What's happening?"

   She released a frustrated sigh as she turned to me. "Alright, look; An hour ago, Master Windu transmitted reports of an oncoming threat coming into the atmosphere. 15 minutes ago, a battleship made contact and released seismic charges. They've taken out more than 60% of our fighters and taken down our best battleships. Vulture droids of cleaning the rest of us up right now as we speak."


          My gaze shifted to the floor in thought. I spun around to coms behind me, picking a headset up to put on. "I need a signal transmitted to starfighter #0714."

"Right away, ma'am", said a nearby technician. 

I turned away and looked outside, crossing my arms in anticipation. And nervousness.

Everyone was blinded by a sudden burst of blue light close to the command board window, and not a second later, the wail of another seismic charge exploding close to our ship.

     Grabbing the counter for whatever support it over, I waited for the shockwave as it threw us everyone around.

   I pulled my head out of my arm and looked over my shoulder as I stood."Shit!"

       The technician beside me who never gave up on his job of acquiring the signal gave me the thumbs up that I was connected.

 I smushed the headphone into my ears. "This is command center to starfighter #0714; General Kenobi, do you copy?"

There was only static for a few seconds, but no answer. I swallowed hard as I fear the worst, but open my mouth to try again-

"Yes, yes! Loud and clear! Just got my hands a bit full here!", he answered. I wave of relief washes over me and I crack a smile.

"Yeah, it sure looks like it", I say, looking outside into the mess of blown apart metal and explosions; green and red lasers from fighter jets litter the sky.

An X-wing zipped by only to be chased and destroyed by the vulture droid up his ass.

I grimaced and looked away as others in the room gasped. I clicked my headset and walked away," Talk to me , General-what's it lookin like out there?"


"They've taken out most of Bravo, and all of Charlie. Between my apprentice, Cody and I, there's really not that much left of us out here", he said, his voice shaky at the end.  He never really did like flying much.

"I-I can't shake em! Their all over me!", I heard another pilot scream through Obi Wan's headset, followed by an explosion, then static and silence.

"Do we fall back, Commander Godfrey?", Cody asked.





      I bit my lip in thought, tapped my foot nervously and shook my head.

"Commander Godfrey?", Obi Wan called again. I shook my head again.

"No. No, hang in there guys! I'm on my way", I nodded.

I spun on my heel and threw the headset to the technician, sending him a thankful nod as I walked down the pathway to the double doors.

"And just where do you think you going, Commander?"





I stop in my tracks to look directly above me.

"Admiral on deck!", the same man who announced me earlier yelled, and everyone stood again.

I furrowed my brows a bit but saluted him like all the others though. His piercing emerald, green eyes searching behind my own emerald, green eyes for the answer before I've even said it.

"I've got a job to do. My teams need me", I answer, and turn to walk away.

"I don't think so, Commander", he said, and I stopped. My eyes fell shut. "I want you nowhere near this mission. In fact, I want you on the first shuttle off this ship to Alderaan with your
 Mother, immediately."

"Right away, sir", answered a nearby assistant, then he walked away to go make the call.

     Releasing a breath of frustration, I spin around towards him. "No. They need me out there. Their dying!...You know I can fight-"

He walks away from me and up to the control panel, but I follow him.

"You know I've been waiting for this, so why are you denying me?!"

He then turned to me; his eyes darker them I had ever seen before.

"Because it is not the griseo way", was all he said.

I felt like I couldn't move after he said that. The word I hadn't heard in the longest time. The word that reminded me who I was. It stopped me in my very spot. I looked away in thought, nodding when I realized he was right. 




"I will not put my 17-year-old daughter in the middle of a war of this magnitude", he said pointed outside." I hope to have you fight alongside me one day, but your powers must get stronger before then. You need more training... More control... I hope you understand, Little Star. I have to keep you safe."

My eyes fell shut as I sighed, and my head fell slightly. 

He sighs sympathetically. "Nova?...", he starts, and goes to put his hand on my shoulder but I dodge it and slap it away.

" I don't... don't understand you sometimes!  Why do you continue to treat me like such a child still! I've trained my entire life for things like this!", I threw my hands up. "My team is waiting for me downstairs in the hanger-What am I supposed to do? I can't let them go alone."

"Sir?", his assistant called from a nearby phone, "Transportation shuttle is a go."

My eye shut in frustration as I feel my Father's gaze land on me again.

"I'll fly them personally. And see to it that all 8 return safely...You have my word, Little Star", he leaned down to me.





     I inhale through my nose as I look from the floor to him.

"You're wasting precious time then, aren't you?", I deadpanned. I crossed my arms and walked over to the window, viewing the horror below me.

I felt his conflict as he shifted his feet, forcing himself to leave. "I'll return soon to meet with you and your Mother."

I said nothing as he and his men stepped into the elevator. Finally, as the last one stepped in to hand his helmet to him, my gaze shifted over my Father's chest full of medals.




They passed over all the service medals, the Air Force Cross, his combat action ones. Until one in particular caught my eye, his Medal of Honor.

If there was one thing that mattered most to my Father, it was Honor. A medal of bravery and sacrifice. One that isn't earned easily or taken lightly. A responsibility, not a shiny trophy like some like to portray it as. One that says, "in the end, I will conquer." 

That medal holds almost as much time and effort spent in it as my Father spent with me and my Mother. 



     "I mean it, Nova", my Father's deep voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I look to him as he points. "You'd better be on that ship, or else."

  The elevator doors close cutting our conversation off, and I turn to look out the window again at the chaos below.