When You Come Home

-15-

"Draw them out, draw them out!" Anakin hollered, cupping one hand around his mouth and gesturing with the other. "Come on, men! Pull together!"

He ducked down as another explosion broke over the tall building beside him. The smooth concrete of the wide streets buckled and cracked, rippling like a giant creamy wave towards him. Cars were thrown in the air, lampposts were knocked down, and the bottom floors of the evacuated buildings were swept out. The deafening boom of the explosion rang through Anakin's ears as he shouldered his gun and ran, calling for his men to follow. "We have their attention!" His voice was hoarse from yelling all morning. "Let's move, move, move!"

Rumbling down the street and reloading its hungry cannon was the Sith's pride and joy: a massive tank. This was their main threat and their main target. If they could take down the tank, they would greatly decrease the risk to innocent lives. The only problem was actually taking it down.

"How's it going, Captain?" Cody dropped behind a overturned piece of road, seizing the short moments of stillness.

"Good!" Anakin peeped over the top before ducking down again. "We've got their attention! We'll lead them out of the centre city in no more than ten minutes."

"That's five minutes too long," Cody muttered. "We're preserving life but destroying livelihoods. How are you holding up, by the way? Did you get any sleep in the end?" His brown eyes flicked between Anakin's for as long as the boy could hold them.

Anakin looked down. "I got some." He didn't want to say enough, but he was simply grateful that both commanders had snatched some sleep. Never mind that he had stayed up most of the night to ensure it.

Another blast from the narrow mouth of the tank sent fragments and glass raining down around them, so they grabbed their guns and sprinted. Their next rendezvous point was just beyond the line of empty shops with darkened windows and lifeless interiors. As Anakin dashed past them, his gaze focused on the reflection of houses on the opposite side of the street. He could even make out a children's push bike in a front yard.

"That's five minutes too long ... destroying livelihoods."

Cody was right. Every minute that tank roamed the beautiful, broken streets of Mandalore, another home got destroyed, another business demolished. Rex had been right. War was not good business. In every window now, in every face, in every cry, Anakin would hear Rex's warnings, could see his grim expression and the haunted look behind his eyes. War was terrible, and each day he was learning more and more why.

Moments before he reached the rendezvous place, their safe space to catch their breath and regroup their thoughts, Anakin veered off his course, yelling to Cody, "Change of plan! Where's Ahsoka?"

Cody's flabbergasted expression would have been comical if Anakin hadn't just thrown himself into the firing range. "What are you thinking?!"

It wasn't exactly the answer Anakin was hoping for, but it turned out Cody's answer would have been unnecessary. A streak of camo green and dark hair appeared at Anakin's side, blue eyes eager to assist. "What are we doing, Skyguy?"

Anakin didn't have time to wonder how she got to him so fast, instead pointing to the tank that had finally navigated the corner. "That's our target; I'll go right, you go left. Let's see what you're made of."

Ahsoka's jaw set in determination, and Anakin briefly wondered if his sudden trust in her would actually be rewarded. They stuck to opposite sides of the street, sheltering beneath the eaves of the shops or the bushes of the houses. Swiftly and silently they approached the tank, eyes glued to the swivelling nozzle in case it should retract and then fire.