The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Forty-Seven

By the time Anakin reached his destination, he saw the female sith laying face-down on the rock floor and noticed that his soldier companions were still standing with proud expressions on their faces. With a grin the size of a moon, he jogged over to his team and clapped them all on the back. "Way to go, you guys. Didn't even need my help." The small group of survivors jumped at his voice but sighed with relief at his words.

"It was all Commander Rino here," Molindi averted her eyes bashfully and rubbed the back of her neck as Rex complimented the woman. "I've never seen a non-Jedi take on a Sith as an equal with only a few cuts and scrapes to show for it."

"Hey, she had me on the ropes towards the end," Molindi smirked back. "I'd be dead if it weren't for you and Axel." She elbowed her squad mate in the ribs and, for the first time ever, he nudged her back just as playfully.

"As adorable as you all are together, we should probably get moving," The general was right; even as they spoke, the next wave of guards were quickly approaching and the four of them were not going to get another chance to escape before the spies became surrounded. He'd seen the speeder they'd taken zip away towards the hangar which crossed out that method of a getaway. With a quick glance around the arena, Anakin looked over at the pit the gorog had climbed out of and a plan began to fall into place. "Alright, we're going to jump."

"Again?" Rex questioned with a raised brow. "Will you be able to catch all three of us?"

"He will if we go one at a time," Molindi suggested. "If we're fast, we can make it-"

"Ladies first, then!" Before the woman could finish her sentence, Anakin had taken hold of her through the Force and sent her body flying over the edge of the stands. Both Rex and Axel let out audible gasps of shock and the Varactyl squadron member rushed to the side. Though Anakin felt it the moment Rex saw Molindi's body lift from the ground once more, the other commander still sent the man an unamused expression. It was meant to scold the general somewhat, but ended up doing the exact opposite; it confirmed that Anakin's plans for the two were already in motion. At least on Rex's side of the task. "I'll let you be the one to push her next time." The Jedi chuckled as he nonchalantly jogged back over to the edge where he extended his hand and caught Molindi before she could face plant below.

"Nah, I probably shouldn't if I want to stay alive." Rex smirked after the woman had landed safely and made a gesture towards them with her finger that would probably be left out of the mission reports. He leaped after her and Axel followed suit to the sound of blasters being fired behind them; the elite guards had arrived and the spies weren't hanging around long enough to see if they were any more skilled than the ones they'd faced before.

In seconds, everyone had made it in one piece to the arena floor, kicking up little clouds of sand and dust upon contact, and began the short sprint towards the gorog's den below the establishment. Despite having to climb up and over the gorog's corpse, the four still made it there in decent time and dropped down into the depths below.

***

"Maybe this wasn't as great of a plan as I thought before."

It was a rare occasion when Anakin Skywalker actually admitted out loud that he could possibly be wrong about something. As the four trudged ankle-deep in raw urine and manure through what actually turned out to be the dark sewers of Twar's capitol city, it wasn't difficult to agree with him in the topic.

The walkways were somewhat narrow, stretching to be only six feet wide and eight feet high. Basic protocol stated that in situations like this, soldiers were to walk in a straight line, one man behind the other. But since none of them had any real knowledge on what dangers the sewer held, the four fell into going two by two, almost shoulder to shoulder, so that they'd know right away if someone was to be attacked from behind or torn away from the pack by something like the vines that claimed the palace walls.