FORBIDDEN ATTACHMENTS ─ star wars

XXXVI. The Factory

Chapter Thirty-Six
Anakin

"Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into." Ashoka grunts out frustratedly.

I deflect another blast, glaring at her next to me. "How is this my fault?"

"I recall telling you that the factory runs underground, and I told you that the separatists might use the underground passages to ambush us. But you said 'don't worry, Snips, those passages were closed up years ago'!"

I duck down behind an empty crate, wiping the sweat from my forehead and shaking my head at my padawan as she kneels behind the same crate, Fallon doing the same.

"Now is not the time to say 'I told you so'."

"There is always time to say 'I told you so'."

Fallon rolls her eyes, quickly glancing up at the droids closing in on us. "Can we please focus! Your bickering is starting to really get on my nerves. We need to come up with a new plan."

I look around the factory, trying to find anything that could assist us now. The factory is a dome shaped building with spiral conveyor belts that are attached to the walls, curling down towards the ground where empty crates wait to be filled.

The main support for the dome roof is a long pillar, and it's this part of the factory that gets me thinking. I lean up and look over the crate we're leaning against, watching the droids grow closer and closer to this pillar.

I lean back down, looking between the two women. "I have a plan. When the droids get to the pillar, we knock it down, making the roof crumble down and crush them. That will take out a lot of the separatist forces and we'll have the upper hand."

"The droid commander is hiding somewhere in the factory, we need to destroy it," Fallon points out, reloading her gun. "You handle the pillar, I'll handle the commander along with Rex."

I nod to her. "Be careful."

She winks at me. "Always."

She, Rex, and a couple other clones start towards one of the doors of the factory, already being bombarded by droids from the moment they exit the main part of the factory.

I look over towards the trooper next to me, a clone named Fives, who looks all too eager to get out from behind these crates and attack these scrap piles.

"On my signal, shoot the pillar. If you have any explosives, use them too."

"On your word, General." Fives says.

I lean up and dodge a droid's blast, deflecting another that soon follows with my lightsaber. I wait impatiently as the droids press their attack, their painfully slow metal legs nearly at the center of the factory.

The moment the leading droids pass by the pillar, I shout for the clones to attack. They fire everything they've got at the pillar, with fives throwing charges with both hands. I duck as they explode, sending the entire roof cascading down to the ground, crushing the droids instantly.

Before the dust can even clear, Ashoka and I jump out from behind the crate, charging towards the remaining few droids, cutting through them like they are the practice targets I used as a padawan.