The Sister of 200,000 Brothers

Cat and Mouse

 Vayena stood next to her brother Captain Cody and General Kenobi as they overlooked the current battle.

"Looks like General Skywalker's already engaged the enemy," Cody noted.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary, especially since I gave him a direct order not to," General Kenobi said. "Anakin, I want you to withdraw,"

"Withdraw?" General Kenobi argued.

Vayena smirked. "I brought a new toy that might give us an advantage,"

"With respect, General, now might not be a bad time to regroup," Admiral Yelauran agreed.

"Tell the transports to fall back to Obi-Wan's position. We'll cover their retreat as they escape behind the moon," General Skywalker ordered. "I don't like this. I hope you know what you're doing, Vee,"

***

Vayena crossed her arms as General Skywalker exited his craft and walked towards the trio.

"Well, here I am," General Skywalker said. "Tell me about this new weapon,"

"You move any closer; you're gonna kiss it," Vayena teased.

"I think you've finally lost it, Vee,"

Vayena rolled her eyes and knocked her hand against the invisible hull.

A clone nearby used his datapad to reveal the ship.

"It's a stealth ship,"

"That's some trick," General Skywalker nodded.

"Let's hope the Separatists think so," General Kenobi said.

"So I assume scanners can't detect it,"

"As far as we know," Vayena admitted, "but this is the first real field test,"

"That's encouraging,"

"I figured you'd be up to the challenge," Master Kenobi said.

"So I can move in undetected and take them out from behind. That's a pretty small ship to destroy a whole fleet. Are there more?"

Vayena shook her head. "No. This is the prototype,"

"And you won't be on the offensive," General Kenobi revealed. "I need you to run a mercy mission down to the planet's surface. The ship can carry enough supplies for Senator Organa's headquarters,"

"Oh, I'm still the delivery boy? We don't need the whole fleet. I can do this myself,"

"Anakin, slow down and do what I tell you. It's more important to save lives than destroy ships. I need you to continue the mercy mission,"

***

"I'm sorry to hold you up," Admiral Yelaren told Vayena as she and Skywalker got to work on getting the ship ready to go.

Vayena knew Skywalker's history of crashing his ships instead of landing them; there was no way she was letting that happen to this one.

"No apologies, Admiral. What have you got?" Skywalker asked.

"Something about this morning's engagement struck me familiar, so I did a bit of research,"

"And?"

"I believe the opposing commander is none other than Admiral Trench,"

"If I remember my military history, wasn't he vaporized at the Battle of Malastare Narrows?" Vayena recalled.

"That's what I thought, too," Admiral Yelaran nodded. "But the tactics employed, the efficiency of the droids' maneuvers, and then there's this," he showed Anakin and Vayena his datapad. "The last time I saw that symbol, well, let's just say I lost a lot of good men that day,"

"What do we need to know?" Anakin wondered.

"I have seen his work firsthand. A corporate fleet was blockading Malastare, a fleet led by Trench. That's why I recognized the tactics. He tore our ships apart. We barely escaped with our lives. In the end, a Jedi-led task force settled the matter. Trench's ship was destroyed, and we assumed he went down with it,"

"Are you sure it's him?"

"It's possible. Not every captain goes down with his ship,"

"Well, we may be in luck, then, Admiral. My orders are not to engage Trench to deliver supplies to Senator Organa,"

"With all due respect, General, I do not believe we will have a choice. If it is indeed Trench, he will come for us,"

"Us?" Vayena questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. I am volunteering my services as a consultant,"

Vayena shrugged over at Anakin. "Your call,"

Anakin smiled at the Admiral. "Welcome aboard,"

***

"Hurry up, rookie. We're leaving," A clone called out as they prepared to depart.

"CT 1284, Spark, reporting for duty, sir," The rookie saluted.

"We lost one of our starting lineup, kid. You ready to step up and take his place?"

"Yes, sir! Just show me my station,"

"You'll be sitting right across from me where I can keep an eye on you till you're up to speed,"

"Sounds familiar," Vayena teased as she headed toward the front of the ship. "Everyone's on board,"

"Dispatch, we are powering up and ready to go," Anakin reported.

"Going silent in ten." Vayena said as she looked over the ship's readings, "Systems green. Power core steady,"

"Engage cloaking device," Anakin ordered.

Vayena held her breath as they neared Trench's ship.

"Doesn't look like they can detect us,"

"Yes, but if you get any closer, they may not need scanners to know we're here," Vayena snapped.

"Relax, Vee,"

"General," A trooper called out, "we have incoming bombers with fighter escort,"

Vayena glared over at Anakin.

"Enemy ships closing. 15,000. Fourteen thousand...thirteen thousand..."

"What's our defensive capability?" Anakin asked Vayena.

"We've got torpedoes and anti-aircraft cannons," Vayena replied. "But we'd have to decloak to use either,"

"Yeah, and if they don't know we're here, that will give our position away pretty quickly," Anakin noted.

"Nine thousand. Eight thousand," A trooper tracked the incoming bombers.

"Have they detected us?" Admiral Yelaren asked.

"Can't tell, sir,"

"If we are going on the offensive, we must do it soon,"

"Five thousand," The trooper called out. "Four thousand,"

Vayena looked over at Anakin. "It's your call,"

Anakin sighed in thought. "Stay cloaked. Power everything else down. Let her drift,"

The lights on the ship turned off, leaving the crew in darkness.

"Two thousand," A clone noted. "One thousand,"

"They're going to hit us!" Admiral Yelaren exclaimed.

"Five hundred,"

Vayena held her breath as she heard the bombers fly over them. She sighed in relief as she saw them all buzz by and towards the planet below. "They missed us. They don't know we're here,"

"They're heading for Bail Organa in the command center," Admiral Yelaren noted. "They're going to bomb it!"