Reborn as Anakin

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We set off, the dozen of us, in the direction of a neighbouring planet. Chommel is a rare backwater, even by Naboo standards, an agrarian planet. The meeting with the enemy was unexpected - after twenty minutes of flight the first enemy ships slipped out of the hyper. They were corvettes.

- Good," Sabine said with satisfaction, "I never would have believed that a dozen fighters could attack a fleet of corvettes. Spread out!

We all scrambled away from each other and sprinted for the enemy. Taking fire from an entire squadron is a dangerous idea, so the fighters flew into the enemy formation quickly and decisively, squeezing the armour plates. And then there was the fight...

The Gozanti, and it was mostly them, tried to move away from each other to provide room for manoeuvre, but failed. The first enemy fell - one of ours gave them a whole line that penetrated the shields and tore through the belly of the ship. I didn't lag behind, either - the victim I had chosen got a line from all the cannons, but I couldn't take him out at all - I had to get away in a hurry because of the neighbouring corvette's charges.

Fire counteraction was weak, but, seeing that they were being beaten, the opponents opened barrage fire with all guns. The result was disastrous for both sides - a couple of fighters were engulfed in a whirlwind of turbolaser charges, but they also hit their own - I saw with my own eyes how they hit each other. The enemy's formation was shattered - trying to get out of the line of fire, the ships lost order. Before my eyes, a couple of them crashed into each other, smashing through their shields. I couldn't help but take advantage of that, so I gave them a short burst in the bridge area. The rest of the squadron was doing worse - four of them were pinned down by enemy fire during the attack, so they had to slow down and fire long bursts to remove their shields, which was a dangerous manoeuvre.

While the others were hitting the Gozanti, I steered my vehicle towards the Marauders, through the area that still had some semblance of formation. "The enemy's Marauders had little involvement in the battle, something told me they were saving it. The first corvette took a long line, and then I had to close my shields. A whirlwind of charges from the main formation came from behind, but since I was gone, the Marauder got the brunt of it - his deckhouse was blown off.

The last to enter the battlefield was... a dreadnought. This huge ship appeared a little away from the main enemy forces and, so far, did not dare to hit our formation. However, apparently, the commander of the dreadnought gave the order to clear the place - the corvettes sprawled apart, being beaten by us.

- Hutt, he wants to trade us for corvettes," Sabine hissed, "all prepare to dodge!

The first salvo from such a ship licked two of their corvettes at once, but the fighter that was targeted got away. Barely, but it got away. This only infuriated the dreadnought crew, and the second strike was aimed at me. Foolishly, I dodged the whirlwind of charges, but not as successfully as the first pilot - the charges intended for me went into clear space, without causing any damage to the enemy. Seeing this, Sabine attacked the Marauder, at once with a missile - along with a queue of turbolasers. The shields weakened, and the blast left the corvette with a fat point. We had, after all, put particularly powerful missiles on the fighter, capable of destroying an entire cruiser. We had to decide whether to hit the Dreadnought, exposing its tail to the corvettes' fire and weakening its shields, or to retreat, because technically we had fulfilled our task - given the losses, the enemy would hardly dare to continue the attack before it had collected the wounded and repaired itself.

The battle process quickly changed - the dreadnought figured out the commander and hit Sabine's machine with all available cannons. Sabina's car had no time to close its armour plates, which were already battered - the blow was a slip, but it was enough for both the car and Sabina - the fighter flew away, tumbling and leaving behind drops of molten freak.

- Everyone move out of the cruiser's attack range! - I shouted, "Quickly! Fire missiles at the corvettes!

I rushed after the commander, sensing that Sabine had been hit. I had to ram her car to stop her. It didn't look shabby, it looked worn to a crisp.

- Erdva, can you put Sabine on the Chommel?

- I'll try," the droid replied uncertainly, "It's better if you tow her car with the graviluc.

Sabine was injured. Seriously, she needed immediate attention. I had to fly to the commander. We hadn't exactly become friends lately, more like colleagues - she had a few nice conversations with me, and then we started seeing each other less and less.

I dragged her by force, in tow, to the planet's surface. We were landing in the forest - I had to fire the only remaining rocket, so that the dense forest was replaced by a clearing.

- Erdva, request help, urgently, report our coordinates.

If the fleet doesn't come after that, I don't know what to do. Two Sinu squads to clean the latrines. Two fighters ploughed into the scorched clearing - the manoeuvring engines of mine had been tampered with by enemy bullets. They had to pull Sabina out of the cockpit by force - I couldn't reach her, and all the opening parts were jammed. The girl looked... let's just say, prettier than one would put in a coffin - her left arm was permanently disabled. I'm not even sure if medicine or force can help here - for the most part, up to the elbow, her arm was almost gone. Apparently, she had managed to get away from the bursting plasma, but she hadn't had time to remove her arm, so....

I had to remember what I learnt on Mortis - first aid to a commander. It wasn't in my power to repair the whole arm, so I did what I could - there was a border about just below the hand that I had to cut with the lightsaber. Further and further, the amount of minor damage was too numerous to count. From cracked bones and bruises to burns to the airways. She was pretty badly burned, but at least she didn't burn herself, which is good. It took me a long time to work on her, and after about ten minutes of work, she came round.

- Haenya?

- Shh... you're hurt," I held her on the ground as Sabina tried to get up, "don't say anything.

For some reason Sabina felt eerily uncomfortable. No other reason than she was afraid that her command authority would be violated by me once again.

- Why? Where are we?

- Chommel. I've ordered the group to withdraw and strike with the remaining missiles. If the fleet hasn't arrived by now, I'm powerless.

- We should have held on," Sabine started to get agitated, but I calmed her down with strength and words:

- Tc... don't be a hero. Our task is accomplished, the enemy has been stopped. The offensive has failed - they will not go further. First they will collect the wounded ships and only then, maybe, will they attack.

Sabine turned away, but as luck would have it, her own hand caught her eye.

- А...

- I had to amputate it. There's no medicine, I'm sorry.

We were silent for a while. I - pouring strength into the commander to hold on, Sabina was embarrassed, but as usual, did not show it.

- Henya, I wonder why you didn't leave me? - She suddenly spoke, "You're not supposed to leave the formation. There were no orders.

- Fuck such orders, - I smiled.

We were silent for a while. It was hard for Sabine to talk, and I was tired as a dog - the fight had lasted about thirty minutes, and that was a lot. By the standards of manoeuvring space combat - an eternity.

Sabine suddenly asked:

- Listen, Henya, do you have someone?

- You mean... - I was surprised.

- Well, a girlfriend.

- Well... - I hesitated, - I know a girl on Naboo. Really, it's been a week since we met.

- Is she pretty?

- Very.

There was another pause. Dramatic - I wondered why the hell Sabine was suddenly interested in my personal life. No... no, it couldn't be. Or rather, it could, but definitely not with me.

After waiting another five minutes, Sabine said:

- You know, when you flew the first day back then... well, I was very angry with you. No one has ever been able to nail me until now, especially so easily.

- I've noticed," I grinned.

- And then... you're not like the others I've met. Seriously.

- You must have imagined it," I tried to lighten the conversation to a topic other than my personality.

And then Sabina said.

Perhaps my fate is so sad, evil or good fate. Or maybe it's the effect of the spring. Anyway, once I took my mind off things, I discovered that the world is full of girls, beautiful and different.

- 'Henya, I think I've fallen in love with you. Seriously," she said this, immediately becoming embarrassed inside, which caused her external displeasure to rise, "and actually, I don't think, I'm sure.

- Well... - I didn't know what to say to such a statement. I usually confessed my love to girls, not me!

- I have a girlfriend back there in Tida.

- I don't care," she stood up on her healthy arm, "do you think I'm one of those chickens that will stand around and wait for happiness to come to her? - she sank back down, pulled me close and kissed me on the lips. A passionate woman, bold and direct. The complete opposite of Padme, soft, preferring to veil her feelings and half-sentences. It didn't take long for me to surrender under such pressure. I capitulated, and for a few minutes we fell into a kiss. Sabina, by the way, was a remarkably beautiful and charming girl, but you couldn't call her sweet. When we broke the kiss, I asked, catching my breath:

- Ah... what about...

- That girl? - Sabina smiled slyly, "Whatever you want. I didn't confess my love to her, so I don't give a shit what you have with her.

That's one, that's two. The original girl.

- I think you'd better refrain from such scenes for the next few days. You're more seriously hurt than you look.

Of course, when she was drugged with my power, she was more alert and pain-free, but when I step away... most of the damage I've repaired, only bruises and minor scratches remain. Sabina rolled her eyes:

- Good. But I still haven't heard your answer.

- You didn't ask a question," I parried.

Sabina pulled me in once more and repeated the kiss. I see. She knew how to kiss, and she did it with such passion that I was even a little confused. When we broke the kiss, she said: - "Well, what do you say, Lieutenant?

- Hmmm..." I hesitated, looking into her eyes. To say yes would mean, in all likelihood, a very high probability of breaking up with Padme. Saying no would guarantee losing Sabina. I liked them both equally, they were just very different. What to say? Should I choose? Or choose both, secretly? Or openly?

- Yes, Sabine," I sighed, "yes. I like you very much too, and I don't mind if we continue our relationship. Only you said yourself that you would turn a blind eye to the girl on Naboo.

- I don't care about her," Sabina snorted, "if you love her, then so be it, but if you don't, she'll fall off like a withered leaf. Some one out there isn't going to make me put my hands down," she smiled. Her face still had the cinders of burnt electronics on it. Actually, the most unusual kiss of my life - blood-flavoured, cinders, and as straightforward as a Mandalorian crowbar.

The corvette arrived thirty minutes later. In that time, I had dragged Sabine to the fender of my car, where we made a rookery. The fighter was already banged up, but in battle-ready condition. I had to get a droidekka and order her to guard us from potential enemies. As the corvette descended over us, the droidekka pointed her blasters and missiles at it, but my shout made her change her mind.

- Are we there? - Sabine opened her eyes.

- We're here. And now, Captain, you're going to have a warm bed to sleep in.

- Sabina sighed, "Heinia?

- Yes?" I turned to her.

- I hope you'll visit me?

- I will.

The corvette landed on the edge of the edge of the forest and the local healers came running out. White robes, bandages on their arms. They almost dragged me away for campaigning with Sabina - I had to assure them I wasn't hurt, and they wanted to drag me away anyway. The chief among them is probably a medic from the Tida hospital - he spat and turned to the wounded woman.

- Erdva, start the car," I reached Sabina's car with my strength and, using my power forging, fused it to a piece of metal.

The fighters looked battered - the armour plates of the petals were cratered from hits worse than the surface of the moon - and that wasn't the first layer - the thirty centimetres of armour plates were only a dozen centimetres thick. The transparent metal of the cockpit was similarly mangled, but it was just evenly melted - I got a couple of shots right on the face, but transparent metal is hardly stronger than durasteel. One cannon was knocked out by a direct hit, so the fighter's combat value is questionable. However, the external damage hid a reasonably whole fighter - all systems were working normally, were undamaged. That was gratifying. Shin had played the card of these machines one hundred per cent - their task was exactly the same in a fight like this, with medium-sized ships, in the face of opposition. The corvettes that started firing in all directions couldn't dodge the sluggish fighters, and by slipping inside their formation we mixed things up, turning the fight into a classic dogfight. We took heavy fire, and if it hadn't been for the cruiser, we might have been giving the Enarkians hell in space for a while. The sluggish corvettes opened fire, but they hit their own more often than us, and manoeuvres often ended in collisions. If the fleet can't finish off the Enarkians who've lost formation and order after this, I'll fire the hell out of them.

I had to take off and steer it in the direction of our forces. The aircraft carrier approached the Enark - it was literally a couple of steps away - there were occasional crosscruisers coming and going on deck, but none of ours were in sight. My arrival was met with a stormy welcome - at least the Nabuans looked at the battered and melted fighter with square eyes - I was the worst hit in the fight, but I had the best score. I used my foresight to take out the ship's control rooms - corvettes didn't have backup or combat control stations, so a line to the control room was guaranteed to turn the ship into a pile of flying dead metal. Without control of all systems, it could only drift in space until someone took pity on the crew and picked them up from this flying steel coffin.

I landed and walked out in silence - the records of the battle were in Erdva, I'd have to look at them later and analyse them. Thinking not to waste time now, I turned to the same silent captain:

- Can you manage from here?

He nodded.

Still, being a military man has its advantages. I've had a war, but afterwards I'm honoured and praised. The Nabuans looked at us, the Guards ace, in the same way as at celebrities, if they were in the underground - they kept apart, but they would glance at us from time to time. The rest of the squadron was also in the hangar - I found them and approached the guys.

- Hello? - I squeezed through the crowd of local Guardsmen to my squadron. The guys were surrounded by a dense crowd of gawkers and just enthusiastic young Nabuan pilots. When they saw me, they turned aside, so that they managed to pass the last steps without any problems.

- Henya?

I exchanged handshakes with the whole group, and then they came at me with questions.

- Quiet, quiet, - I raised my hands, - not all at once. I'll answer, the commander is fine. Sabina was hit by a cruiser's salvo, the armour plates didn't close in time, so she was wounded. Her left hand had to be amputated, but she'll live, she'll be back in action soon.

- Why did you give the order to retreat in the first place? - One of them didn't understand.

- We fulfilled our task. We were ordered not to destroy the squadron, but to tie them up in battle and beat them before the fleet approaches. They don't have a Mandalorian commander on every ship, so they lost formation and got mixed up. That was the goal, not destruction.

The boys agreed, but judging by their belligerent looks, they were ready to fight on. I cooled them down by asking to look at their vehicles - the thick armour was punctured and melted, some of them had lost their guns, so to continue fighting on such vehicles would only be to trade themselves cheaply to the enemy.

In general, this dogfight was extremely difficult and dangerous. By the standards of the galaxy, a dozen fighters fighting three or four corvettes is normal, but we were up against a tenfold superior force, with a cruiser as well, so our operation was already unbelievable. I'll have to whisper to the information hawks not to start publicising our fight - after all, we shouldn't stand out from the locals. They'll figure it out for themselves, though. You could even say that the team sent by Cinna are professionals in information warfare.

Breaking out of the crowd of enthusiastic Nabuans, I shouted at them when my patience ran out:

- "Stop this nonsense! The war is not over! It's your turn to go to battle, so stop your clamouring, you'll go back to Thede and make noise, and now - if I see any more of the idlers - you'll scrub the latrines. With your hands. Get to the cars and wait for orders!

I laced my shout with a bit of force, so they all got it and ran away. It didn't work on my own. Like I said, Ace pilots are almost entirely Force-users. Though their gift is so weak that they have nothing but reaction and intuition, like Alessia, but when developed, they are stronger than any ordinary person as pilots.

The Nabuans scattered to their cross-wings.

My squadron and I each got a brand-new cross-wing. There were no more Guards, but for lack of a coat of arms, they wrote on toilet paper. I'm exaggerating, though - a Cross Wing is designed for manoeuvring against its own kind, and Guardsmen are designed for fighting larger ones, so it's not a very good comparison.

- Guys," I turned to the others, "any casualties?

- Three wounded," the black guy with the sour expression on his face informed me, "the commander, Lex, and another girl, Tina.

- Okay. Are they gonna be alive?

- They will be," he shrugged.

- We'll have to go see them when we get a chance. Now," I looked at the fighter we'd been given, "we'll have to take part in the fight with the locals. How's the fight going?

- The cruiser's already been destroyed," the same negro said cheerfully, "but we lost seven corvettes and about three squadrons of locals. But the fighter countermeasures have been dealt with, so we're going after the corvettes that are about to escape. There's also a lot of salvage pods and enemy ships that have lost power and control, so we'll have to do some scavenging.

- It's not so dangerous, - I sighed with relief, - we'll finish with these losers and go to Teed, to regroup.

Actually, that's what happened. We flew out in the direction of the space debris - the shields had to be switched off so as not to waste fuel unnecessarily, that's why there was a constant drumming on the armour of the space debris, which was always left after the battle. In some places there were even pieces of bodies or whole bodies of enemies. In such a state in space they can fly for centuries - in space the bodies do not rot, so it is sometimes difficult to understand from the traces of the battle whether it happened yesterday or a hundred years ago. Only ship identification can help. The main debris will be attracted to Chommel's orbit and burn up in the atmosphere, just like the bodies. But there are a dozen or three or four ships that were still alive - they had to be contacted.

The battle was won - the remaining enemy forces fled into hyper. We could not and did not want to stop them - let them tell everyone how they were stood up in the orbit of Chommel, then maybe they will do us a favour. The war was officially on, and the Justice Observers had arrived on Naboo.

It didn't take much clean up - most ships were surrendered immediately, and the crew were pulled out of them, by forced docking, sometimes with the hull opened.

When the last ship was claimed, we headed for the aircraft carrier. I'm going to give Sina a good beating for being so slow with the fleet - the enemy is already in the system, and they're still dumb. I'll have to keep the fleet on full alert for the rest of the war. I won't tolerate any more screw-ups like this - if it wasn't for us, the Enarkians would have taken Chommel.

The return of all the groups to Theed was... to put it mildly, triumphant. That's putting it mildly - people were going crazy - we were mobbed as soon as we emerged from our carrier. People were particularly attracted to the uniforms of the Guards.

The war had passed the first stage - rapprochement, trial of forces, and entered the second - building insidious plans. So from the aircraft carrier, I went straight to headquarters. Under the pretence that I'd been summoned. Located Shin in a concrete box, with minimal amenities, however, military purposes it met one hundred per cent. Walking through the grey corridors, I came to the commander-in-chief's office and knocked.

Shin was seated inside, surrounded by officers. Noticing me, he cast a brief glance at the others, then asked:

- Yes?

- Did you call for me?

- Ah, Haenia, hang on, we'll be done soon.

I went out and waited about five minutes for the conversation to end. Everyone left and I went inside.

- Your majesty," he bowed as soon as I closed the door.

- At ease, Shin," I sank tiredly into the office chair, "tell me, how was the battle?

- Our losses were ten ships. One Guard fighter, eight corvettes, one Marauder, three Gozanti, four CRs. Wounded... Fighters - more than thirty, but when compared to enemy losses, that's a very good number.

- That's enough," I raised my hands, "I'll read about the wounded and dead later. Did you manage to rescue anyone from the corvettes?

- We did, but not all of them. By the way, congratulations on a difficult battle. Your help was invaluable.

- It's understandable, - I squinted, - it took you comrades a long time to move out. I made the Guard vehicles the most protected in the galaxy, but even that didn't save some of you from injury. We had to hold off an entire squadron with a heavy cruiser with the force of a dozen fighters. Why did your fleet arrive so late?

- 'The locals,' Shin shrugged, 'if we were talking about the Mandalorians, the ships would have been with you, but the locals... they have psychological problems. Some were completely useless before the fight. They were slow, afraid... that's the way it is with the rest of the galaxy," Shin sighed heavily, "so many mistakes, so many cowards... we should shoot the hell out of them...

- You can't.

- I know," the Admiral sighed again, "but they seem to have been shot now. Not all of them, but I can count on some of them.

I nodded. The debriefing was over, and now it was time to get down to business. I invited Hortad into the office. The head of the Space Troopers came quickly.

- Your Majesty," he bowed briefly.

- Come in, Hortad. We will now begin discussing the second phase of the operation. Namely, the full capture of the Enark and Farstin sectors.

The warlords looked at each other.

- We will have to occupy these planets, completely subjugating them to the Naboo. That's why I'm placing a big bet on landing operations - you'll have to conduct at least four major captures. Enark, Farstin, Trigalis, Rugosa. Trigalis and Rugoza are under Farstin, that is, under the Hutts. The first operation is to capture Enark. At the moment their forces are insufficient to fully resist us on the ground - the government, or rather whoever is there instead of them, is poorly supported by the citizens. According to my information their combined army is no more than a million and a half men, which is very small considering we are far ahead in battle droids and equipment. Hortad, I'll ask you to work on a plan to take Enark and expand to the three remaining planets.

- But will the queen agree... that's the question," Shin interjected, "she doesn't make such far-reaching plans.

- The Queen has no choice. These planets are on the drug and slave trade route, so either Naboo will take them over or they will be an eternal thorn in the side of the Nabuans. The operation must be designed and executed in the shortest possible time - after today's massacre they will be building up garrisons and fleets, so the situation is getting worse by the day. Our job is simple - destroy all communications, jam transmissions and communications, Shin, you must gain superiority in space, then in the atmosphere. We'll have to garrison each of the planets, destroy the local government. Luckily for us, they're pretty corrupt, so resistance from the population will be minimal. Some will even greet you as liberators. Hortad?

- Yes, Your Majesty?

- Prepare a landing force. For now, the start of the operation depends on Sin, when the Admiral can conquer space and crush any resistance to our stormtroopers on the planet. You don't have to count the equipment, the droids. We can order new hardware.

- Or rather, new ones have already been ordered," the cosmogeneral grinned, "to replace the retired and in reserve. The droids are already halfway to us.

- Good. Prepare an operation to capture Enark. I want that planet under Naboo jurisdiction, not occupation. If necessary, we'll allocate some funds for law enforcement and infrastructure, I can share imperial police droids.

- Approximate timeline? - He looked at me. I redirected my gaze to Syn.

- 'Three days,' the Admiral said confidently, 'in three days I'll suppress the system's defences and clear a place for you to land.

That was the decision. Three days - the first day - to prepare, the second - to move out and attack, the third - to finish you off. Hortad fled to his quarters and his army became even more active. The military base turned into a piece of chaos - speeders were constantly flying, people were running, all the Nabuans were gathered from Tidus at the base. New forces were constantly showing up, but there was no time to train them anymore.

I looked at this and walked towards the Naboo hospital. I promised to check on Sabine.

Our group's departure was in six hours - Sabine wasn't coming. It was with this news that I flew to her in the speeder. To my surprise, the uniform served as a first-class pass - I was immediately escorted to the required patient without even asking any questions. As soon as the door closed behind me, the slumbering commander woke up and looked in my direction.

- Henya?

- Sabina," I smiled, "well, how are you?

- Better than anyone the dreadnought hit with its main calibre," she grinned. The hospital had cleaned her up - her cheeks were ruddy, her eyes were alive, her fatigue was just showing, but that was nothing. I came closer and told her the most unpleasant news:

- Apparently, the commander doesn't want to lose momentum. The paratroopers are running like crazy now, and I bet they want to take Enark before they realise it.

- Right," Sabina sighed, "will I be able to participate?

- I'm afraid not. My flight leaves in four hours.

The girl was genuinely upset that she would not be allowed to go into battle, but there was really not much further work:

- Don't be upset," I continued, "we're out of fighters, and they won't let you fly on the crosswings. They don't want to risk good pilots.

- Then what will you do there? - wondered the commander, - not to coo with her Nabuanca?

- Alas and ah, neither with her, nor with you will not be able to coo. Our squadron will be in reserve, most likely. All we have to do is suppress the air defences on the planet, and then it's up to the attack planes and bombers. And paratroopers.

- Yeah, busy... okay, good thing I'm here then. It's warm, dry, and they even promised to feed you three times a day," she grinned. Me too.

We had one more brief kiss and purr before we left, and then I ran off to the squadron getting ready to leave. Shin had already gathered more than half of the force behind the orbiter, so as soon as I entered the aircraft carrier, we took off.