blast! → the clone wars

xviii. through the front door

⋆☆.* ✧✰ .✦⋆*☆

THE PALACE WAS DEADLY SILENT as the small squad snuck their way through, the only sound coming from their soft footsteps on the marbled floor. Tara and Xen had their sabers off but held them at the ready; they wanted to take out any droids they saw, but they wanted to do so without spooking the ones holding Pijal's democratic assembly hostage. It would only work for so long, they knew that, but they were running under the very fair assumption that the droids wouldn't kill by default. They would first seek out their attackers, and suffer the consequences of doing so—at least, Tara hoped that would be the case, assuming they hadn't received a significant upgrade recently. It was a risk, but a calculated one, and it was the best option they had.

There was a lot of that during the war, Tara realized later on.

"Your captain didn't seem to like your plan too much," said Hunter quietly from just off her left shoulder as they moved cautiously down the corridors. She shrugged.

"He doesn't trust your squad yet, but he trusts me, and he trusts my decisions."

"Ah," said Hunter with a chuckle. "We get that a lot. Our methods are...unique. For a Jedi they'd be fine, but for clones, they're seen as suicide missions."

"Funny, Stellar said the same thing. If Master Shaak Ti trusts you, I do as well. Besides, my methods aren't exactly the most orthodox, either." Xen stifled a laugh from her other side, and she fought a smile.

"They're very effective, though," Tech piped up from behind. "I've seen your statistics, your missions have some of the lowest casualties of any Jedi."

"Guess the meiloorun doesn't fall too far from the tree, then. Master Shaak Ti was one of the few we felt actually cared about us." This time, Tara couldn't hold back her smile—though it didn't last long. She, Xen, and Hunter were the first ones on alert, due to their Force sensitivity and heightened senses, respectively. The others weren't too far behind. They all stopped just short of an intersection as the familiar sound of droid feet clacking on the marble floors grew louder. The squad pressed themselves against the left wall.

"Wait until they're in the center," Tara whispered. They all did as ordered, and the droids were so focused on going straight ahead that they paid the squad no mind. As they reached the center of the hall, the squad struck. Tara and Xen rushed them head-on as the Bad Batch flanked them, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the ones the Jedi hadn't yet reached. Needless to say, it was a short skirmish.

"Well, if they didn't know we were here already, they'll know now," said Crosshair, looking down at the pile of metal they had all created in the span of thirty seconds. He was right; even without the command droid, someone would have heard the noise and communicated over the comms. Time was of the essence now.

"He's right, we have to move quickly." Now that the element of surprise was no longer required, they were able to travel faster, jogging down the echoing corridors.

Just before hitting another intersection, Tara skidded to a stop and threw her arm out in front of Xen to stop him just as a blaster bolt whizzed past them. She glanced around the corner then turned back to the squad.

"The entire left side is filled with them." Before she even had to ask, Hunter looked back to his men.

"Crosshair, Wrecker, you know what to do." Wrecker chuckled and cracked his knuckles, and Crosshair rolled his neck. He looked to Xen.