Promise - Anakin Skywalker

.10

The ground shook beneath Ella's feet as she marveled at the beautiful aqua colored glass buildings that pierced Christophsis's purple sky. She'd never seen architecture so tall, so close. On Coruscant, she'd only seen the city from inside the temple.

Usually, the glass reflected the rest of the glimmering city, but now it showed a red haze erupting in the distance. Ella whirled around, as did many others, and saw whatever it was approaching quickly.

She looked up at Obi Wan, who looked unafraid of it, so she too felt unafraid. "I guess we'd better stop exploring and go plan how to take that energy shield down, shall we?" Obi Wan said to Ella. She still watched it erupt through the glass, but nodded and jogged alongside him back into the base.

Grant and Anakin were already inside and had projected a holo-diagram of the city including the shield. By the looks of it, Anakin was desperately trying to soothe Grant. He looked extremely annoyed.

"The shield generator is somewhere in this area," Obi Wan said, as soon as he was close enough for everyone to hear him. "They're slowly increasing the diameter, just enough to keep it ahead of their troops."

"The heavy cannons are gonna be useless against that," sighed Captain Rex as he pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"As they get closer, I guess we could try to draw them into the buildings," Obi Wan said, peering closer into the hologram. "That might level the playing field a bit."

"If the shield is such a problem, why don't we just take it out?" Ella asked.

"Easier said than done," grumbled Captain Rex.

Anakin coughed into his fist. "I, for one, agree with Ella. Someone's got to destroy it, that's the key."

Obi Wan smiled. "Alright then, why don't you and Grant take care of that then. Ella and I will take the enemy lines here," he said her name sharply, causing her to stop inching her way toward Anakin. "That should give you two a chance to sneak through enemy lines."

"They won't have much time, the droids far outnumber us," Captain Rex said grimly. "Our ability to street fight is limited without the use of heavy cannons. They'll march right over our lines to the cannons, then they'll blow them away."

"No need to worry Rex," Grant smiled, "I've got a plan!" He started to walk off ahead of Anakin.

"I make the plans here!" Anakin grumbled as he jogged to catch up.

"They make quite the pair, do you think they have a chance?" Asked Rex.

"They better, they're our only hope," Obi Wan said grimly, his eyes still on the hologram that floated before them. His eyes moved down to Ella who watched Anakin and Grant as they walked away.

"Don't worry, Ella," Obi Wan patted her shoulder, "our job is just as important, if not more." 

That did not help. She wanted to be the only hope, she wanted to do great things! Guarding the front lines was so standard. Still, she obediently followed her Master to where their heavy cannons were being prepped.

She'd never seen such machinery before- well, she'd never really seen anything before. But, these were especially interesting to her. They shot out electric beams of blue light effortlessly, the only effect being the kickback of the shot. The springs in the seats absorbed the energy anyways.

"I'm not worried, Master," Ella finally replied. "Combat is my strongest skill."

"Good!" Cody, Obi Wan's Captain, shouted as he and several other troopers went sprinting past her. "Because we're about to need some!"

The ominous red shield was coming up over the hill straight towards them. Just inside of it was rows and rows of droids and oncoming tanks. They marched in perfect lines, hundreds of the same droid in the same stance and speed.

Behind her, the cannons began to fire even louder and with more power. Though the beams flashed through the air, the shield simply absorbed them like they were nothing. The army inside of it looked unfazed by this. They proceeded on, nearing daringly close to the scarce clone army.

"Sir, even at full power the cannons cannot penetrate their shield!" One of the clones called out nervously.

Ella worriedly looked back and forth from the approaching army and Obi Wan. She pulled both of her lightsabers from her belt and readied herself into a fighting stance while Obi Wan continued to speak with the clones.

"We need to fall back," Obi Wan said making Elle jerk her head away from the droid army. 

"Fall back?" She asked, her eyes wide.

"We need to protect the cannons while Anakin and Grant take the shield down," Obi Wan explained to everyone.

"You heard him, men!" Cody called out, "Fall back!"

Obediently, they all jumped from their stations and began to push the cannons away. The droid army persisted with the same speed as before. "Let's climb to the top of this building, we can jump off and land in the middle of their ranks while the troops take the front," Obi Wan said to Ella as he jogged inside the base once more.

Several limping soldiers made their passed them outside to prepare for the battle. "They shouldn't have to fight, they're hurt," Ella said sadly, stopping to look at the wounded troopers proceeding to fight.

"I'm afraid they don't have a choice, we need every living trooper to fight since we don't have reinforcements," Obi Wan explained, kneeling down to Ella's eye level.

"They'll just die, they can barely move and they aren't even fighting yet," she whispered, pointing to two soldiers who leaned on each other to keep upright.

Obi Wan sighed as he stood up, "You'll understand someday, little one."