Innocence - Cpt. Rex

| THIRTY-SEVEN |

DESPITE CONTRARY BELIEF OF HER PEERS, ANYA WAS SMART. In fact she bordered on brilliant, though not many people acknowledged that. It was difficult to think of a person as smart when said person could not do simple math nor read all that well. Anya was a different type of smart though. She might not have been able to speak the most eloquently, but she could think in a different way than other people. Anya could solve puzzles.

Anya could see the invisible strings that connected pieces and knew how to put clues together to see the full picture. Anya never stopped thinking. Even in meditation when she was supposed to quiet her mind, ideas and thoughts voiced themselves instead. Anya could see the answer before others.

Anya didn't need the Force to know when something was wrong or out of place. She had been trained to adapt and think for herself. Which is why Anya couldn't help but say, "Remind me again, why we cannot turn on the lights?" Anya asked as she pressed her back into Anakin's watching one side while he watched the other.

Their lightsabers were the only source of illumination amongst the dark cargo bay, mostly because the giant industrial lights overhead were off. Anya couldn't help but wonder why that was the case.

Anakin glanced over his shoulder at her. "So that the droid can't see." He answered quickly.

"But the droid has night vision." Anya pointed out. There was a beat of silence between them. "And we do not."

"We'll turn on the lights after we find the last droid." Anakin told her as they turned down a corridor.

"I feel like the lights should be a priority."

"Don't tell me you're scared, Anya?" Anakin asked teasingly.

Anya glanced back at him with a deadpanned expression. "No, I just cannot see."

They both answered their comms as a beeping noise emitted from them. "Anakin, Anya, Tal Merrik is the traitor and he's taken Satine hostage." Obi-Wan's voice crackled through.

In the background Anya could make out the muffled voice of Lucian screaming, "Ni kelir kyr'amur ibac aruetyc dar'manda! Ni kelir tengaanar bic meg veman aaray cuyir!"

Anya felt a bit bad for the senator. Lucian yelling in Mando'a meant shit was about to go down. The last time she heard him yelling like that, 17 bones that were not his own were broken. 

"Copy that, but we've got problems of our own right now." Anakin hissed into his comm, on edge as he awaited the inevitable fight.

Meanwhile, Anya switched her comm channel to the clones while Anakin wrapped it up with Obi-Wan. "Rex, Cody, have you found anything?" Anya asked.

"All quiet over here," Rex replied curtly, an underlying tension in his voice.

A minute later that 'quiet' no longer lasted since laser fire erupted somewhere amongst the cargo hold. Anakin and Anya perked up, the former swinging his lightsaber while the latter led the way to the origin of the noise. The Jedi swung around a corridor to find Rex and Cody on the ground, the tiny assassin droids crawling all over them, and the two soldiers doing their damndest to shoot the droids off of each other. 

Rex was currently grabbing at a droid that was crawling around his helmet. Anya raised her saber up and yelled, "Move your hands!" Rex didn't even hesitate to do as she told, dropping his hands as the tiny assassin scurried over his helmet.

Anya had about an inch gap between the droid and Rex's face. However, Rex knew Anya wouldn't miss, he trusted her not to. He had faith that she had complete control.

Usually, Anya would have been mortified of hitting someone at that close of proximity with her lightsaber, but in the moment Anya was so focused on getting the droid off of Rex she didn't even have time to be worried.