Judgment Day

Chapter 3 - The Invisible Hand

The inky black color of space surrounds him outside the viewport, dotted with occasional stars in the distance. Coruscant is below – Luke has never seen the planet in person before, and he's struck by the sight. He's in the Clone Wars, with his father. For all he wanted to know Anakin, he never would have imagined this.

He's about to see the Emperor again.

Luke tries to refocus his attention on the battle despite his anxieties, and while he's never struggled with that in the past, he is now. Somewhat. Any one of a million terrible things could happen, and he doesn't know what to expect. Not that he ever knows what to expect in life, but this is worse, because he was sent here to stop so much darkness. He doesn't know how, but if his father believed he could do it, he can and will.

"Master, General Grievous' ship is directly ahead," Anakin calls over the comm system. "The one crawling with vulture droids."

Luke has fought in many battles before, but he has never flown this type of fighter before. Neither has he fought an army of only droids. It's new and it's thrilling, maybe more than usual, because he doesn't know what to expect and he's fighting with his father instead of against him, for the first time...

Second time, but it's still the first time they've fought and flown together.

"I see it," Obi-Wan confirms. "Oh, this is going to be easy."

"From experience," Luke warns, "It's always when people say that it gets hard."

Obi-Wan ignores his comment, turning to the clone pilots to order them into attack position.

"This is where the fun begins," Anakin declares – he's as cheerful and carefree as Luke always is when he's flying – and they set out.

Explosions ring out all around them, and Luke loses himself in the battle, shooting down droid after droid. They're certainly easier to hit than people, but they make up for it in numbers. He doesn't have time to pay much attention to it, though he briefly catches sight of how well Anakin is flying, and... it's far better than Luke himself. (The last time they flew in a space battle together, Vader nearly shot him down. Now he can so easily see how.) He never would have dreamed of this, and it's thrilling, to say the least, that it's happening, and he'll take advantage of it while he can. After all, he doesn't know how long he'll have.

Seeing it really makes him wonder how Anakin could have become cyborg from a crash of all things, but he doesn't know what else could have caused it. Now is not the time to think about that, though. They have a battle to win... and a Sith Lord to rescue. Maybe it would be for the best if he suffered an... accident on the way.

The clones aren't doing well, though. "I'm gonna go help them out," Anakin calls, spinning his fighter to the side, blasting through a few more droids.

"No," Obi-Wan objects, instantly, "They are doing their job so we can do ours."

Luke knows what this is like, of course. The Rebellion has had to do it to prevent greater losses from their already small numbers, but this is entirely different. Obi-Wan is a Jedi, and Luke expected differently from him, though it seems everything he once thought about Obi-Wan, and the Jedi, was wrong. Maybe Obi-Wan is right, but if they were able to rescue the Chancellor before, they won't need him here this time. Luke breaks away from the others, flying towards the clones.

"I'll help them."

They should be fine without him since they were before, so he can only hope. A stab of fear cuts through him as he watches because he still can't shake the concern that something will happen to Anakin here, but... he seems to have it handled far better than Obi-Wan, especially when it's Obi-Wan who winds up with a buzz droid covered ship.