"All right, men. What's the problem? I'm missing dinner." Anakin sighed. I rolled my eyes playfully; his jokes were always the best. Though, sometimes I think they weren't jokes at all.

We walked into the hanger where our fellow troops were held. "We're not sure yet, Sir, but there's still no sign of Mixer and Redeye." Commander Cody informed us.

I looked down to the ground to find R2 chirping unusually loud. "What's the matter, buddy?" I kneeled to be face to face with the droid. He continued to chirp, and his body was moving frantically around.

"I know, I know, but I'm here now. Use your scanners. See if something's out of place." I commented. I placed my hand onto its head, giving him comfort. R2 then began to lead the way into the darkness. Crates and metal hooks were lying everywhere.

The only source of light was R2's flash.

"Well, what've we here?" Rex questioned. In front was a large open crate. Some of the objects inside seemed to have been missing.

"Looks like the contents of this box are missing." I looked around the area a few more times. "Or it got up and walked away," Ani suggested. Got up and walked away? Well, now I see why R2 was terrified.

I imagined walking in this room, pitch dark and something crawling up behind you. Yeah, that's something I don't want to be placed in. "All right, fan out—separate squads. I'll contact Obi-Wan." and that's precisely what Anakin did. I swear, sometimes I think he can read my mind.

A few minutes had passed by when R2 began to chirp again, this time more intensely. "What's up? Did you find something?" Ani asked. We followed the small droid into a narrow pathway. Still in the dark, we had no idea where we were going. There were just crates on top of crates.

Until we came to a halt. Redeye! It was him, but he seemed weird. Redeye's walk was forced, and his head hung low.

"There you are. Redeye, where have you been? You've had us all worried." Ani mumbled the last part noticing what I have seen. He lit his lightsaber; I stood in front of R2, protecting the droid. Red Eye's dead body flew right in our direction, and out came a mechanical-looking spider. It had eight legs, and his face glowed red.

It crawled from the walls onto the ground, facing us with great determination to rip us apart as they did with the two missing clones. I looked at Anakin's posture, and his body was ready to charge at any moment. He stood fierce and determined while R2 and I huddled up.

He spun his lightsaber confidently as the droid crawled in his direction. In doing so, Ani chopped his legs, making the droid slide into the boxes or crates. Though it didn't stop him, the droid picked up some wooden boxes hitting Anakin in the face. His body fell on the cold metal ground. "Anakin!" I shouted.

Before I got the chance to ignite my saber, blaster shots hit the droid multiple times, killing it on the ground. My eyes redirected themselves onto Ani, who had gotten up quickly. A wave of relief hit my body. Seeing his limping body was better than seeing him dead or badly hurt.

His eyes placed themselves onto mine before they instantly left. "The lift!" he yelled. I looked behind and saw another mechanical-looking droid approach the elevator doors. I sprinted in its direction, but I was too late. The droid had climbed up the elevator walls making its way towards Satine.

"Obi-Wan, there's assassin probes down here. One made it up the lift. Y/n and I will try to hold the others here." Anakin yelled into his transmission.

"There might be one left. Let's spread out and find it," he suggested.

"Watch it!" a troop yelled. My face turned into his view, and out came little mechanical droids from the large one we had just killed. There were many, and they were all tiny. "They're everywhere!" Rex shouted. The room had begun to fill itself with blaster shots in every direction. Some crawled up on the walls while others stayed on the ground.

"Get behind me!" Ani shouted. I ignited my saber, getting as many as I could while I approached Anakin. Some of the troops were unlucky and had gotten crawled upon. "Y/n!" Ani yelled! He hooked his hand onto my arm, pushing me behind him.

R2 turned on his deactivators, making it easier for the tiny droids to be toast.

"Good workmen. You too, R2." Anakin sighed as there were no more to be seen. "What about me?" I acknowledged he didn't thank me. "I can thank you later." He smirked. I was caught off guard, so I had to resist the urge to react surprisingly.

"How did that monster end up in the hold?" Rex questioned.

"Question is, who smuggled him on board?" I replied. There was no possible way Satine would approve of an assassin droid to be on board to kill her. There was a traitor upon the ship.

Our next task was to see whose name was on the orders. So we asked for a droid that looked just like 3PO. However, he was silver and not gold. "There is no indication of who shipped it," Anakin yelled. The droid took a step back, frightened. "No, sir, just the Senate stamp. Always accepted for transport here aboard the Coronet." The droid replied.

A senate stamp? So I was right, there must have been a betrayal from the other senators, and they must be upstairs with Satine. Anakin and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing. We quickly headed upstairs to find the dining room trashed.

The chairs and table had been broken as well as the plates and glass cups they had been drinking and eating from. This was a war scene, and I could tell how horrid it was. "One of our four distinguished senators appears to be a traitor," I claimed.

"I sense it too." Obi-Wan agreed. He held the stamp in which the droid had so kindly given to us. From the corner of his eyes, he saw one little mechanical droid still alive. "It looked like one of our little visitors is still alive. I have an idea of how to expose the turncoat. Return to the hull of the ship. Destroy the last assassin droids. I'll find out which of the senators is the traitor." he ordered. I nodded my head in agreement. I led the way back down to the hanger, exhausted but fully determined to kill one.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Ani and I were once again in the dark. We huddled and kneeled as we strolled through the narrow spaces. Silence killed the whole room, that was until Kenobi intercommed. "Anakin, Tal Merrik is the traitor, and he's taken Satine hostage!" He yelled. His breaths were hitched as though he was running heavily.

"Copy that, but we've got problems of our own right now." He whispered and immediately hung the call-up. His blue saber brushed off onto the objects nearby. Silence followed us every step until blaster shots came from a distance. The troops were in trouble; I quickly ran into the direction of the shots.

Igniting my saber in an instance, I sliced the small droid in half. "Watch out!" Anakin yelled. The large mother droid jumped from out of the shadows pushing Commander Rex onto the ground.

The droid began to climb up the wall trying to escape the large hole in the ceilings. Anakin threw his saber into his direction, dropping it back onto the ground, and with that, I jumped onto its body, stabbing the top with my saber.

"We need to get to Satine!" I yelled immediately. Even though the girl had me on my nerves, I knew how much Obi-Wan cared for her. It was the same situation Anakin, and I were in, and I knew Obi-Wan would do whatever he could to help me. In different circumstances, of course.

We ran back up the upper levels. It seemed we were always on the go around this place. But upon running, we crashed into Obi-Wan himself; he seemed to be out of breath and anxious. "Did you find them?" Obi-Wan panted, coming to a stop.

"No, but I've stationed troopers at every escape pod." Anakin's hand fell onto my back, massaging it as I ran out of breath. "Merrick will try to signal his allies for help. We have to find him." Kenobi suggested. He ran towards the elevator doors, and we followed behind.

I leaned against the back wall behind Ani and Obi-Wan. I don't know why, but I found myself more exhausted than usual.

"This may not be the time to ask but were you and Satine, ever..." Anakin began to ask.

"I don't see how that has any bearing on the situation at hand," Kenobi responded. His voice was filled with an attitude that made Ani step back. I looked into his face, a wide smirk plastered onto it. Of course, he found it amusing.

The blasting alarms of the ship ran through all the hallways. We sent out squads of troops to help find Satine. "I'll take care of this, Obi-Wan. You? find your girlfriend." Anakin teased him once more.

He grabbed my back, softly pushing me forward as we ran with the troops. From the background, I heard Obi-Wan agree that she was his girlfriend. How cute! We turned a corner upon corner until we reached the actual fight. There were rows of droids all lined up and marching onto the clones.

I took my lightsaber, jumping to the back of the row and making my way slowly but diligently to the front. Disarming the droids was relatively easy; with Anakin's help, it ran smoothly and quickly. All the droids laid on the ground dead, and with that done, it was now time to help Obi-Wan.

We ran further down the stairs when we reached Satine wrapped in Tal's arms. She was a bargain for Obi-Wan. I was about to go into the scene when Anakin hugged me, pulling me behind a column. "Shhh." he covered my mouth with this hand. I quickly slapped it, making him groan quietly.

"Hug me, but don't cover my mouth," I whispered and leaned my back onto his chest again. He held me with his arms wrapped around my body. His lips touched my neck for a mere second until we heard Obi-Wan's voice.

"Satine, this is hardly the time or place for..." he stopped in the middle of his sentence. I could not see what was happening since we were hiding behind a pillar with our backs facing the other way. I know we shouldn't eavesdrop, but there was something interesting happening.

"All right." Obi-Wan sighed.

"Had you said the word, I would have left the Jedi order." He added. My eyes popped wide open, and I was sure Ani's did too. Obi-Wan had romantic feelings... maybe if he knew, he would understand.

"That is touching. Truly, it is. But it's making me sick, and we really must be going." Tal commented. My thoughts came back to reality focusing back on their conversation. "You have the romantic soul of a slug, Merrik." Satine sassed back. There was a pained groan, one that seemed to come from Tal himself. I pushed my body away from Anakin's, watching the view as I saw Satine point her blaster to Tal while Obi-wan pointed his saber.

"And slugs are so often trod upon," Satine added.

"Interesting turnabout. But even if I do not deliver the duchess alive to the Separatists, I still win. The second I'm away, I'll hit the remote and blow the Coronet to bits." Tal seethed between his teeth. I made myself forward and extended my saber in one hand. "I will not allow that." I protested. His eyes widened though he was still smiling.

"If you shoot me Satine, you prove yourself a hypocrite to every pacifist ideal you hold dear. And you Kenobi, you are no stranger to violence. You'd be hailed as a hero by everyone on this ship. Almost everyone. And you Master Amidala, you kill me, the name of the Naberrie family goes down as murderers." Tal chuckled under his breath. He found amusement, and I never understood why. But it was true; I could never kill someone. I couldn't.

"Come on, then. Who will strike first and brand themselves a cold-blooded killer?" My eyes wandered between the three of us. Satine's hands were shaking, and I knew Obi-Wan had too much pride. It only left me; I closed my eyes for a mere second, but in that one second, Tal was stabbed by another saber. Anakin's saber.

"Anakin..." Obi-Wan shook his head in disappointment. "What? He was going to blow up the ship." I walked towards Anakin as he held his forehead with one hand; before I had the chance to say anything, I was interrupted.

"General Skywalker, the last of the droids have been defeated, Sir." Cody voiced.

"Very good, Cody," Ani answered. He grabbed onto my shoulder, softly pushing me back onto the elevator. I knew he was afraid of the talk I was about to have, but somehow I wasn't angry. I understood why.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

We flew back to Coruscant, where Chancellor Palpatine had awaited our arrival. The sky was clear but still smoky. It was good to be back, but I was ready for another mission.

"A job well done, Master Jedi." Palpatine praised Obi-Wan, who in return bowed. "Your excellency," I responded. He then walked away with the rest of the senators, leaving only the three of us standing side to side.

"How ironic we meet again. Only to find we're on opposing sides." Satine approached Obi-Wan, who was surprised to see her presence again.

"The needs of your people are all that matter. They couldn't be in better hands with you to guide their future," he responded.

"Kind words indeed from a mindful and committed Jedi. And yet..."

"What?"

Satine approached his face; her eyes wandered his body. "I'm still not sure about the beard." she softly smiled. There was a soft side to Satine that has now fully embarked itself.

"Why? What's wrong with it?" His eyes were like puppy eyes. "It hides too much of your handsome face." She gently laid her palm against his cheeks, caressing it as her body swiftly drifted into the other direction.

Ani and I stood there amazed. "If we were to do that, we'd be kicked out of the order," Anakin whispered in my ear, softly chuckling as he said so. I nudged his shoulder playfully while an exaggerated sigh left my lips.