Guardian | Obi-wan's new padawan

Chapter 12: Blast from the Past

"So, Anakin blew up an opening to the surface for us?" I asked Obi-wan as we made our way to the hangar of The Negotiator.

"Yes, although that is far from the hardest thing we have to do today." He answered, opening the doors to the huge open space known as the hangar. The battle for Ryloth's space was still going down, Anakin and Ahsoka's ships opening heavy fire onto the separatist's cruisers, but an opening had been created for us, the large jedi cruisers now slowly entering Ryloth's atmosphere. Now it was up to Obi-wan, master Windu, and I to retake the planet from the separatists, the gunships ready and waiting to take us to the planet's surface. Master Windu was directing troops into the ships as we approached, some of them already taking off.

"The first trick will be getting our troops on the ground." Obi-wan said as we entered our gunship, me already having taken a firm hold on his belt. Force, we really had to lower those stupid holds, this was just getting ridiculous. When I heard some snickering, I quickly whipped my head towards the clones, only to be met with Waxer and Boil. They stiffened when our eyes met, but I only shook my head at them, a slight smile playing on my face. This was going to be a fun ride with those two around.

"If you take the city of Nabat first, we'll have our landing zone." Master Windu said.

"Then it's time to go meet the natives." Obi-wan replied before the doors of the ship closed, the ship taking off swiftly. The ride was more bumpy than usual, what with the rush that we were in, so I had to grab hold of Cody's belt as well to prevent a faceplant.

"We need to remember why we're here." Obi-wan started the debriefing. "We came to aid the Twi'leks, not destroy their home. Cody?"

Cody stepped forward, and I quickly shifted my second hand from his to Obi-wan's belt, not wanting to hinder him. "That means we'll be taking it back the hard way. Minimal destruction with blaster and droid poppers only. No rockets or detonators. Check your aim. Keep an eye out for the locals. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" The clones said.

Shortly afterward, the droids opened fire on our ships, and a loud explosion rang through the air, the force of it making our ship sway violently.

Within seconds, a hologram of master Windu appeared. "We can't risk landing the larger transport units until you take out those guns."

Obi-wan nodded. "Pull back, we'll take care of it."

The hologram disappeared, and I sighed. "Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting."

"Who's up for a challenge?" Obi-wan addressed our troops. "We're not getting any reinforcements until those guns are out of commission."

Kriffing knew it.

"Here we go again." Waxer said to Boil, making me chuckle.

Our ship shook as we took on more fire, and one of the other gunships was shot out of the sky, the explosion making our ship sway once more.

Eventually, the doors of the gunship opened and we landed in a forest surrounding the city. I stuck close to Obi-wan as we sprinted through the foliage to the city walls.

As we approached the city, I noticed that many signatures were bunched together in one big mess of fear that spread through the city like wildfire. I didn't get much time to contemplate it for now though, as we were spotted by the battle droids on the wall, and they opened fire on us.

Obi-wan and I activated our sabers, defending our men by deflecting the droids' shots. The fire only intensified, and we had to take cover behind some trees.

"That bunker's gonna be a problem, general." Cody said.

"Leave the bunker to us. Bring in your troopers on my signal." Obi-wan answered, before turning to Waxer and Boil. "You two wanted action? Follow me."