our broken promises ~ a.skywalker

Chapter 22: The Malevolence

ANAKIN WAS STUBBORN. KORA KNEW THAT. He was always so hell-bent on making things his own way, barely taking input from others. She knew he was stubborn in the sense that his pride sometimes got the best of him; blinding him from seeing rationally. But that wasn't to say that Anakin never listened. He sometimes did when it was someone he cared about saying it. So when Kora and Ahsoka pleaded for Anakin to change plans because of heavy losses, he reluctantly agreed.

The moment Ahsoka reminded him of the motto, "Minimal casualties, maximum effectiveness," he snapped back to reality. The plan so far was suffering from casualties and not enough effectiveness. It had to be changed.

Now that Kora thought about it, was his arrogance why he had been acting strangely earlier? Was it why he snapped at her and why they were back to last name basis? Was he too stubborn to admit he'd been wrong to attempt and break the Jedi Code even more than she had already?

Though, was he wrong? Why was everything so difficult right now?

No, he was wrong. Kora tried to convince herself. What he said in her quarters last month was out of line and overstepping boundaries, right?

So why was he acting like a child? His arrogance is getting in the way of this mission and Kora's clear thoughts.

"Master, watch out!" Cal shouted, drawing her attention away from her thoughts. For the first time, she noticed that the Malevolence had fired their ion cannon, and it was heading their way. If Cal hadn't shouted for her to focus, they most likely would've fallen into the ion.

Now is not a good time to be distracted, yet she couldn't gather enough focus. Her mind kept going back to Anakin, for some odd reason. Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it!

Dozens of Separatist ships began charging their way. It seemed that Grevious was getting relentless now, even at the expense of sending his entire squadron to attack. Luckily for Kora, she had Cal, who was quickly becoming a great gunman, defending their ship. All she had to do was make the shots easier for her padawan.

"This flak is heavy!" a clone called in distress.

"All deflectors double front," Anakin instructed sternly.

Even so, they were still taking heavy damage. They've already changed the plan once already; would they have to change it yet again?

"Okay Shadow Squadron, new target," Kora decided to speak up since no one else was going to. "Aim all fire at the starboard ion cannon. We can hope to disable it and stop the Separatists from damaging any more of our ships."

She was not the leader of this mission, but if everyone wanted to survive, they'd best listen to her.

The clones waited for Skywalker's confirmation, which eventually he gave. "Good plan, Knight. Shadow Squadron, on me."

Cal verbally sighed in relief.

The squadron soared through the open space, forming a line directly toward the large weapon. Kora's eyes widened upon seeing the ion cannon charging up; the familiar hue of purple began filling their surrounding area. It was now or never.

She pushed the ship to a nosedive, flying behind the control dish.

"Torpedos away!" Anakin said.

With a swift click, Cal let the torpedos take flight right into the ion cannon. All at once, the entire squadron's torpedos exploded, destroying the damned weapon. Kora could only wish to see General Grevious' reaction; she'd pay good money for that.

The ion cannon weapon attempted an attack, but it only rebounded onto the Malevolence. A shockwave was expelled from the ship, causing a ripple effect of various blasts.