"Turn left at the next intersection," Barriss said urgently, and the three of them quickened their pace. As instructed, they rounded the corner and soon reached a dead end.
"Was it this intersection or the next one?" Peter asked with growing concern.
"You do remember the route, don't you?" Ahsoka said hopefully. "If we take a wrong turn, it'll take forever to reach our objective."
Meanwhile, Barriss was deep in concentration, reviewing the mental map of the underground tunnel network she had memorized. Looking around, she spotted a faint light source in the ceiling above.
"Yes, up there."
Sure enough, Barriss was correct, as they discovered the access point several meters ahead. After reaching the position directly below, they each jumped upward to reach the upper level. From there, the trio had to climb through increasingly narrow passages.
"This is more difficult than it appeared," Ahsoka groaned as she squeezed through the tight space.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked. "This feels pretty easy to me."
"Easy for you to say. You're literally designed to crawl on any surface."
"It wasn't always this way."
"I'm with Ahsoka on this one, Peter," Barriss said, breathing heavily in the confined space. "If we were alone, this wouldn't be nearly as challenging."
Peter shook his head and remained silent, continuing to use his wall-crawling abilities to navigate the tunnel. He glanced down to ensure no Geonosians were passing below, then looked up. His head suddenly collided with something solid... and soft... and—
"Ow!"
Peter's eyes widened in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry—"
"It's fine," Ahsoka muttered quickly, continuing to climb upward with Barriss following close behind.
As Peter emerged, he noticed the lighting growing brighter and machinery sounds becoming more prominent. He followed the others and soon stopped, craning his neck to peer through an opening in the ceiling where assembly operations were taking place.
"Damn, that's a lot of battle droids."
"This way," Barriss directed. "The main control center is just ahead."
The three teenagers made several quick turns to reach another narrow passage they had to crawl through. Finally, they had to exit through a maintenance hatch to reach their destination.
Peter helped Barriss and Ahsoka out of the access point and stared at the central control systems dominating the room.
"Well, I don't understand any of this technology," he sighed in frustration, pulling out thermal detonators and placing them strategically. "But I guess we just need to blow it up."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes and began deploying explosives, with Barriss working alongside her.
Meanwhile, Peter conducted a security sweep of the room for any droids or Geonosians.
"Well, well..." a synthesized robotic voice announced. "This is certainly unexpected."
The three turned in alarm to see an elderly Geonosian accompanied by a red-eyed tactical droid and one of the new super tanks from the factory floor.
"Three troublesome children have infiltrated the core of our facility," the tactical droid said condescendingly. "What shall we do about them?"
Barriss and Ahsoka ignited their lightsabers while Peter crouched defensively, one hand on the ground and the other raised in a combat stance.
"Tsk, tsk," the tactical droid shook its head. "I shall handle this, Master Poggle."
Geonosian warriors began flooding into the chamber through the main entrance and the access hatch the teenagers had used. Peter quickly webbed the hatch shut while the two Padawans launched their attack.
The tactical droid observed silently as the three teenagers engaged the winged attackers. The girls appeared committed to lethal force, but the teenager in the red and blue suit chose to incapacitate rather than eliminate his opponents.
The Geonosians attempted to remove the explosive charges, but they were no match for Peter's abilities. Each attacker was either webbed away from the devices or knocked unconscious and thrown clear of the charges.
Who was this new operative?
The droid analyzed his movement patterns and fighting techniques. However, the combat style... it seemed familiar somehow.
Perhaps too familiar.
Outside, the Republic forces were facing a desperate situation.
The Separatist super tanks were advancing relentlessly and had destroyed their artillery positions, now systematically eliminating the AT-TE walkers.
Suddenly, their chronometers activated, indicating that the infiltration team had successfully planted their charges inside the factory.
"They did it!" Anakin announced with pride and relief.
"Now we just need to delay these tanks long enough for them to rejoin us," Sam said sarcastically from above, firing missile barrages that caused no visible damage to the armored vehicles.
"Let me try something," Steve declared, charging forward.
"Steve!" Aayla called out unsuccessfully as Steve sprinted at full speed toward the first two tanks.
He raised his shield and shouted a battle cry, feeling the tanks' heavy blaster fire deflecting off the vibranium surface as he maintained his advance.
As he closed distance, Steve analyzed the blaster firing patterns and hurled his shield with tremendous force. The disc ricocheted off the tank's armor, leaving a significant dent.
The battle droids inside the vehicle shook with the impact.
"Uh, is that supposed to happen?" the droid gunner asked nervously.
Steve gritted his teeth and threw his shield again with even greater force.
The shield bounced between all twenty-four tanks arranged in formation, leaving substantial dents in each armored hull.
"Steve," Aayla called to him. "You need to fall back!"
"She's right, Steve," Anakin agreed. "Your shield can only accomplish so much."
"I noticed!" Steve shouted, now retreating as he retrieved his shield, positioning it on his back for cover.
When he reached the defensive position where Anakin and Aayla were taking cover, he vaulted over and dropped to one knee.
"So what's our next move?" Steve asked.
"Simple," Anakin said, holding up several thermal detonators. "The tanks are on the bridge."
"We plant these explosives under the bridge structure and let them fall into the chasm," Aayla explained.
"You lead the withdrawal, Steve," Anakin directed. "Luminara, Aayla—we'll handle the tanks."
Sam suddenly landed beside them, folding his wings.
"I think I can accelerate the process," Sam said with confidence.
After distributing the explosives, Sam took to the air with the Jedi Knights, using rock formations and pillars for concealment.
Sam reached optimal altitude and adjusted for wind conditions, then dove underneath the bridge and rapidly deployed multiple charges into the stone structure's foundation.
Anakin, Aayla, and Luminara quickly rappelled down the cliff face and began planting their explosives under the bridge supports.
Shortly after, the three Jedi and the Avenger reached the opposite side of the bridge. Anakin raised the detonator and activated it.
Explosives detonated, the bridge collapsed, and all the tanks plummeted into the chasm, destroyed on impact.
On the far side, Steve stood with the clone forces as the troopers began cheering their victory. The Jedi and Sam waved back to them.
"That's been handled," Aayla said, looking toward the imposing droid factory.
"But where are our Padawans?" Luminara asked with growing concern. "And young Peter?"
"The charges are on a timer, and this facility could detonate at any moment," Sam reported, checking his wrist display showing the countdown inside the installation.
"Rex, Steve—any sign of the kids?" Anakin called over his communicator.
"Negative, Anakin," Steve replied grimly, staring down into the chasm, hoping his fears were unfounded.
"Evacuation transports are en route, sir," Rex reported. "I recommend immediate boarding."
"No, Ahsoka isn't back yet," Anakin stated firmly.
"Anakin, have faith in our Padawans," Luminara counseled. "They and Peter will complete the mission."
"Ahsoka, do you copy?" Anakin transmitted. "Ahsoka, what's your position? Barriss? Peter?"
Sam activated his Avengers communication array to contact his teammate.
"Kid? Peter, this is Sam—do you read me?"
All he received was ominous silence.
The situation was deteriorating rapidly for the teenage trio. When the Geonosians proved ineffective, the tactical droid summoned reinforcements. Soon, multiple waves of battle droids began flooding the control room. With their arrival, the droids became increasingly problematic.
Ahsoka sliced through a battle droid and used the Force to hurl the severed pieces into droids approaching the explosive charges.
Barriss had to maintain pace, essentially mirroring Ahsoka's tactics. However, instead of simply defending existing charges, she had to replace damaged explosives with fresh devices.
Peter, for his part, had to web multiple charges in place to secure them. However, this became increasingly difficult as more droids continued arriving.
The super battle droids that entered were eliminated by Ahsoka and Barriss, but standard battle droids kept pouring through the entrances.
Meanwhile, the tactical droid remained motionless, silently analyzing and observing the combat unfolding before it. It made no move to participate in the battle, instead choosing to monitor everything and pay particular attention to how these young operatives fought.
They clearly possessed combat experience, but there was still room for development.
However, what truly captured its attention was the teenager currently binding several battle droids together with webbing, then hurling them like projectiles into another cluster of advancing droids.
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