"𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙣."

The 212th and 501st arrived on Kiros and chased after biker droids with us in double-seated speeders.

"There's a clanker coming up behind us," Cody said glancing backwards.

I spun the gunner's seat around and blasted the droid who dodged my shots. Damn, these droids are getting better.

I adjusted the canon on the speeder and fired again, watching the droid and it's bike crumple to in a pile of sparks and disappear into the distance.

"Got it," I smiled and turned to Cody who nodded in approval.

Up ahead, Obi-Wan and Anakin halted their speeders. We regrouped in front of the city's main building. Troopers continued to arrive on speeders and walkers. Boil approached Obi-Wan in a walker and my heart sunk seeing that Waxer wasn't at his side. It amazed me how the men put on such a calm exterior while a storm raged inside. I felt terrible. There had to be something more I could do, something I could do for them, but I didn't know what.

I turned away and let Boil give Obi-Wan the update on the city perimeter. Trip and Wooley were fussing over one of the speeders that got damaged on the way here. I went over to help them out when Artoo started rolling at my feet.

"What is it?"

He continued to bump into me and let out a series of beeps.

"Anakin wants to what?"

I gave the astromech a confused look until I saw Anakin approaching me.

"Everything okay, Sil?" he asked with concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, everything's fine," I responded and tried my best to keep my voice and body language neutral. Trip and Wooley were only a few feet away from me and I was not in the mood to be teased.

"It's just that, I know the war can be rough and I wanted to let you know that you can always come talk to me if you ever need to..." Anakin spoke in a polite voice and I appreciated it, but I could hardly focus on what he was saying with Wooley snickering not too far away. "...anyways, my door is always open-"

"That's great, Anakin!" I cut him off and smiled nervously. "But I gotta go see Obi-Wan about something. I'll catch you later."

I sped away from Anakin feeling guilty for leaving him like that, but I was pretty much ready to explode of embarrassment with Wooley and Trip and being the annoying pair they were.

Lost in thought, I crashed into someone. I looked up to see it was Rex, probably looking for Anakin.

"Sorry!" I blinked myself back into focus. "I was just speaking with the captain, general. He's over there," I pointed in the direction I just came from.

Rex looked very confused and I realized what I had just said.

"I mean, I just spoke with the general... captain."

Rex finally blinked and hesitated before opening his mouth to speak. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just," I groaned and decided to just tell him the truth. "Trip and Wooley drive me insane sometimes."

Rex let out a laugh. "At least they're not Jesse and Fives. I'll see you around, Sil."

I nodded as he left and I breathed a sigh of relief. I found Obi-Wan and he informed me of the city's defenses. Cody walked up to us and told us about the Separatist commander barricading inside the city's main building. He pulled up the hologram and the Zygerrian had a message for Obi-Wan.

"Master Kenobi, come to the tower. We will negotiate terms for surrender."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Well, that was easy."

In a second, the communicator flew out of Cody's hands and into Anakin's as he crushed it in a tight fist. Anger radiated off Anakin in waves, sending chills down my spine. I shared a look with Cody who just lost his communicator. Poor Cody.

"Zygerrian scum," Anakin seethed. "I'll handle that slaver."

A bewildered look fell on my face. I hated slavers too, but Anakin seemed to take it a little too personally. Obi-Wan spoke to Ahsoka about it in a quiet voice, but I didn't want to pry so I turned away with Cody.

Soon after, Obi-Wan went to the tower to discuss with the slaver. Outside, Anakin, Ahsoka, Cody, and I listened in on the conversation Obi-Wan let escape through his comlink. It was a long and boring discussion until the slaver finally said he planted bombs all over the city.

"How much you wanna bet he didn't?" I said.

"Well, he might've," Anakin answered.

"I think-"

Cody was cut off by an explosion that came from a building right behind us. Fires started and smoke billowed forming thick clouds of black. Men lay scattered across the ground and my heart fell at the sight.

Anakin ran up to a clone and kneeled down next to him. "I need a medic over here!"

Kix ran over and got to work right away. I looked through the crowd to find Jojo. I could only hope he hadn't got caught in the explosion. He appeared and started attending to Kiwi who had been blown harshly to the side.

I looked over to Anakin with worry. "What about the other bombs?"

"Sil, Cody," Anakin whirled around to face the commander and I. "Hook Artoo up, and he'll locate the other bombs."

"Right away, sir," Cody answered.

I nodded firmly and called Artoo over while Cody got a scan of the city ready. In seconds, Anakin and Ahsoka left in their speeders to disarm the remaining bombs. It was a distressing scene here with the troops caught in the first blast. I bit my lip as anxiety filled me. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt and guilt filled me at my next thought. I especially didn't want Anakin to get hurt.

Artoo pulled up the holomap of city and the bombs' locations showed in red. Cody raised his wrist to speak.

"General Skywalker, your droid's transmitting the bomb coordinates now."

"Copy that, Cody. We're approaching the first bomb now," Anakin answered and I sucked in a breath.

"He'll be fine," Cody punched my shoulder and I blushed deeply.

After an agonizing amount of time, the bombs were all disabled and Anakin came back with hardly a scratch.

"What took you guys so long!" I said as Anakin approached me with a wide smile.

"What? I had to make sure all the bombs were gone and you were safe," he grinned and stood close making my heart jump.

"What about the rest of us?" Ahsoka asked playfully and Anakin rolled his eyes.

I went back to see how the injured were doing. Hours passed as we waited for the transports to come pick us up after relaying the details of this mission to the council.

I dug the heel of my boot into the dirt as I sat in a circle with the troops. The 212th and 501st boys all chatted and laughed.

"How much do you think a lightsaber is worth on the black market?" Jesse asked in a hushed voice.

"Hmm," Wooley pretended to think. "A lot."

"I bet it depends on the color," I suggested with a laugh.

"I'm willing to bet an orange lightsaber would be worth way more than a blue one," Cody teased as the 501st men gasped.

A debate over which battalion was better ensued and the boys argued over which general was the best. Boil said something about Obi-Wan's superior strategies.

"Oh I disagree," Rex said placing his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "And at least our general doesn't have a tendency to drop his lightsaber."

I raised an eyebrow at that statement. The boys in blue snickered. Cody sighed as he relived the times he had to retrieve Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

"Skywalker may not drop his lightsaber all that much, but I'm willing to bet someone could take it from him," I countered. "He can get so distracted, he'd never even notice."

"If you're so sure about that, why don't you go and steal his lightsaber," Jesse suggested with an evil smile. "Let's see if you get away with it."

My eyes widened as everyone started to agree. I had been referring to Ahsoka who I'd seen do that to Anakin several times, not me.

"Come on, Sil," Trip encouraged. "We're all bored anyways."

The boys looked at me expectantly and I gave in. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

"Fine," I stood up and eyed Anakin who was talking with Ahsoka. "I'll be right back."

They grinned in excitement and watched as I walked up behind Anakin with light steps. Ahsoka caught my eye and understood I was about to do something I didn't want Anakin to be alerted to. She maintained her expression so Anakin wouldn't notice.

I stood behind Anakin slightly crouched. His lightsaber was right there. Swiftly and quietly, I unhooked the lightsaber from his belt and turned around. I walked back towards the boys with my hand raised and triumph in my eyes. They cheered quietly with wide grins on their faces.

A second later their smiles fell. I realized my steps no longer met the ground. I glanced down to see that I was, in fact, levitating. Oh shit.

I wriggled in the air to escape an invisible grip. I floated backwards until I finally faced Anakin who wore a smirk.

"Trying to run off with my lightsaber, are you?" he raised an eyebrow.

The boys snickered and I fought the urge to roll my eyes since Anakin was still in front of me. I groaned as Anakin let out a deep chuckle and took back his weapon. He lowered me and my feet finally touched the ground.

"I would've gotten away with it too if you weren't a Jedi," I shoved my hand in my pocket and leaned to the side.

"Maybe," Anakin replied thoughtfully. "But you didn't," he answered with a smile that made my stomach flip.

I looked away from his eyes to guard my thoughts. My gaze drifted back to his lightsaber which hung at his waist.

"You know if you want to look at it, you could just ask," Anakin said in a softer tone.

"Can I?"

"Of course," he replied unhooking his lightsaber and handing it to me.

I ran my fingers over the length of it and admired the details. Anakin pointed out what each button did and told me about the time he made it.

"Here's how you turn it on," Anakin's thumb pressed over mine as we ignited it.

My heart jumped as the blue light shot out with pulsating energy. My eyes fixed onto the color and I listened to its delicate hum. It was mesmerizing.

"I kinda want to touch it," I whispered.

The lightsaber shut off and floated back towards Anakin. "Yeah, that's enough lightsaber fun for one day," he hooked it on his belt.

I looked over to see the troops huddled together laughing, stealing furtive glances at Anakin and I. They spoke in their own language with quiet voices.

"He may not seem like it, but Cody is a huge gossip," I said to Anakin.

"It's not just Cody," he replied. "My guys talk about us too. They think I can't hear anything," Anakin chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

I shook my head in amusement and muttered to my myself. "Tinka me chasa hopoe ma booty na nolia."

Anakin's head snapped in my direction and he gave me a surprised look. "You know Huttese?"

I simply nodded in response.

"I never asked, but..." Anakin said carefully before continuing. "Where are you from?"

I took a breath before answering him. "Tatooine."

His jaw dropped and then he closed his mouth, a million thoughts probably running through his head. "What did you there?"

That was a nice way of putting it, I'll give him that.

"Worked at a restaurant," I replied drumming my fingers against my thigh. "I was there my whole life until about a year and half ago when I got to Coruscant."

"You were a slave?" Anakin asked, straight to the point.

I nodded and looked to the side. His hand slipped into mine, his thumb running over my fingers. I glanced up to see Anakin giving me a look of sympathy. "You know, you and I are not so different," he said softly. "I used to be a slave on Tatooine too."

"What?" I asked in disbelief. Of all the possibilities, I never thought Anakin's beginning would be the same as mine. "When? Where?"

"In Mos Espa," he answered. "I lived there with my mother until the Jedi took me."

"I lived in Mos Eisley."

"Ah," Anakin smiled. "I know I would've recognized you if we lived in the same city," he nudged my shoulder and my heart raced.

A thought entered my head and I wondered. "So did your master just give you up to the Jedi?" I asked.

"Oh no," Anakin answered quickly. "But when I won the Boonta Eve pod race, I was outta there," he grinned.

Pod race, I thought. There was one famous pod race that happened years ago where a human won first place. My mouth parted when I realized who that bastard kid was.

"That was YOU," I exclaimed punching his arm. "You're the wermo who escaped Tatooine because of a stupid pod race!" I shoved and pushed him playfully.

Anakin smiled wide and laughed softly as he made weak attempts to defend himself from my assault.

"Me and my friends didn't stop taking about you for days!"

Anakin gave me a crooked smile. "Yeah, I have that kind of affect on people."

I gasped at his comment and went to push him again, but Anakin grabbed my wrists and pulled me against his chest. "Why are you so feisty?" he grinned at me.

A blush crept up on my cheeks and I bit my lip to suppress my widening smile. I thought back to his question and remembered how my aggression got me so far in life.

"Well that particular trait is what even got me off Tatooine in the first place," I answered.

Anakin's smile fell and he looked deeply at me. "How did you get out of there?"

He sat me down next to him and I told him all about what I did and how I got the chance to leave that dust-ridden planet. Anakin listened carefully to every word and never broke eye contact. I finally finished and looked at the ground.

"I always get angry when I think about my life on Tatooine," Anakin said. "But you spent so much more time there than I did," he mumbled, letting his fingers bounce on his knee. "It must've been horrible."

"Ah, it wasn't that bad," I said in a cheerful tone and put on a smile. I bumped his elbow with mine and he turned to look at me with a half grin.

I leaned on his shoulder, enjoying Anakin's company. The sound of quiet laughter caught my attention. The boys were watching us and speaking Mando'a no doubt. Anakin chuckled and snaked an arm around my waist.

"It looks like it's us two against the troops," I whispered with a laugh.

"No," Anakin responded. "It's you and me against the galaxy."