-From a neutral perspective-

Above the extremely chaotic battles that played out on the surface of Coruscant, and beyond the similarly chaotic air battles happening on the atmospheric levels of the system. Surrounding the lonely Republic planet, a ceaseless space battle continued to unfold and spread its deadly presence. With every second passing, more and more lives were permanently extinguished. Thousands of destroyed spaceships were floating about. Dead ships, which until only recently were proud examples of the might of an era.

The haunting forms of once powerful ships, now barely resembling their original shape, were slowly dragged towards the surface by the invisible arms of the chaos engulfed planet. The now powerless ships, trapped by the gravitational field, now unable to escape their inevitable end, were plunging down, one by one, heading towards their last journey. A huge ship burst into flames, just outside of the dreadnought class battleship as it entered the atmosphere, and started to accelerate towards the grounds, leaving more and more pieces behind its trail.

Soon it broke into two large pieces, then one of such pieces parted once again as the ship disappeared in the clouds and dust generated by its own burning.

However, for anyone who watched the process, there could be no doubt that it would have repeated this a lot more times before it eventually crashed into the ground, creating even more havoc on the surface of the already wounded planet.

Anakin watched these events unfold with a heavy heart, praying for the force that the fallen debris will not result in too many civilian deaths. A hope that… as things stood, was very unlikely.

He lifted his heavy gaze and focused back onto the monotonous battle that he had been directing for at least five hours now. At this time, the novelty of the dreadnought class battleship lost its shine, and the process that he was doing became little more than a monotonous cat-and-mouse play.

He smiled wryly at the disturbing thought. Yes… it felt like a game, except… in this game, real people have paid the price for every action, every mistake and every single oversight.

-Heh…

It was definitely easier to think about it as a game…

He thought dryly, but didn’t give voice to those thoughts.

He was a General for many years now, something that always felt funny taking into consideration how young he actually was… Alas, at times like this, he felt anything, but young.

He has grown numb to death, somewhere along the road in the past years of endless missions and war. It was a trait that no Jedi should have… he knows this, however, deep in his heart, he also knows that this is the exact reason that allowed him to become a good General.

When people become little more than chess pieces in your eyes, you will be able to effectively control them. This was something that Sidious clearly recognized in his actions a long time ago, but now that he also did, he had every intention of turning this ability against the very bastard that was responsible for the current galaxy wide crisis.

A large explosion shook the frame of the enormous ship. One of many previous ones, Anakin didn’t even bet an eye after feeling it. One soldier responsible for the ship’s systems shouted over to him.

-General, sector fourteen has suffered a major plasma explosion. We have closed off the damaged section. Air-pressure has been stabilized, no further leeks are reported.

-Any critical damage?

-There are none, sir.

-Good. Continue.

-Right away, sir.

He nodded, and refocused on the overall battle situation spread out in front of him. Their forces were standing their grounds surprisingly well, thanks to the battle meditation, which has been in constant effect for more than a few hours now.

Still, this was the fourth destroyed and isolated ship partition, such a large ship as these were separated into twenty-four such partitions. Most of them were not crucial in their role, and they could be closed off in case of major damage. They could not allow the global air-pressure of the ship to be risked while leaking too much air into space through damaged parts. The air inside a spaceship was similar to the blood flowing in the veins of humans. If too much of it is lost, the ship will be having difficulties to function, well, not the ship, but the people inside it.

Unfortunately, closing off damaged partitions also meant people trying to leave such damaged parts were mercilessly cut off. For that reason, after the received damage it was normal to wait a few minutes, giving a chance for such people to evacuate, but these partitions were huge and everybody knew it how little was that time.

Still, there are situations that are excluded from such regulations. One of them is a plasma explosion. It means that the damage caused an ammunition energy cell pocket to go off. If something like that happens, it is safe to say there are no survivors.

Another incoming report disturbed his silent thoughts.

-General, we have received an incoming call! Based on military code, it’s the ship commanded by Adi Gallia. What are your orders?

-Solidify the connection and direct it to the main holo communicator.

-Understood.

Soon the connection was made, and the sight of the said Jedi Master appeared hovering in the middle of the holo communicator device, all in its blueish hued glory.

Anakin thought in a voiceless grunt. When will the military decide to place colored holo devices on already trillions of credits worth of ships? They have a tendency to cut corners on the most ridiculous stuff, really.

He sighed

However, his lighthearted thoughts were immediately chased away when he saw that the woman on the other end of the call was heavily injured, and only able to stand by the help of two soldiers supporting her on both sides. One of her shoulders and a part of her head were bandaged. She had clearly just received first aid and bacta shots.

Anakin's expression changed to a worried one as he asked.

-Master Gallia, are you alright?

The injured master seemed a bit annoyed by the obviously stupid question, but she shook her head lightly and answered in a weak, but calm, voice.

-I… I will live, Anakin… My ship has been invaded by droids, I just wanted to thank you for sending the reinforcements. They arrived at just the right time… we miraculously managed to destroy the remaining droids, if barely. However, I have to ask, how did you realize that we were in trouble? We thought that our communications were disrupted by the invading forces.

Anakin raised an eyebrow, while taking in the question with a confused expression. Eventually, he said in a deliberately slow way.

-Cough… well, Master… I would be happy to take credit for such an achievement, but I am afraid that I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. We did not receive your request for support, and therefore we did not send out such troops either, at least not under my command. However, I am still happy to know that someone has come to your rescue… When things calm down, I will personally reward the troopers who have shown such initiative in comradery. All things considered, and taking in your current state, I would ask you to retreat away from the battlefield. Do not engage in direct battle, if that is possible.

Now it was Gallia’s time to be surprised.

-Wait… it wasn’t you? You didn’t receive our request either. How strange… then how did they manage to arrive… forgive me, for my ramblings… but the timing was just too perfect for it to be a coincidence…

Seeing the heavy confusion on the face of Master Gallia, Anakin sighed and decided to share his observations over the last few hours.

-Master Gallia, if someone is as experienced as you and feels like this, I am more than inclined to say it is definitely not a coincidence. The reason in more than likely to lie with our new guests. The entire battlefield has been covered by an intense presence. Someone has been performing a powerful and widespread battle meditation to support our forces and similarly weaken the enemy’s armies. Over the last couple of hours, I have witnessed too many minor miracles and unlikely possibilities happening, that I find myself growing numb to it.

Master Gallia was surprised by this. She was clearly trying to assess this new and important information. Now, with this new understanding in her pocket, she was finding a reasonable answer for many unlikely outcomes fluidly happening, especially in retrospect and not while in the thick of the battle.

-Battle meditation, you say? That explains many things… Still, most of the soldiers serving on my ship were killed in action, and the ship itself was heavily damaged. I will follow your suggestions Anakin, and retreat. I do not wish to be a burden. There are barely enough soldiers to control the ship. It would be foolish to tempt another invasion… Now I believe that I should not take any more of your time. May the force be with you.

-With you as well, Master…

With that, the communication channel was cut, and the conversation came to an abrupt end.

Leaving behind a somewhat confused Anakin, he was unsure of to handle the Jedi Masters, especially those who were in the council which just expelled him from the order…

He shook his head lightly.

It was not like he gave them much of a choice really… but still, he didn’t expect to hear a “may the force be with you…” from any one of them, except maybe Obi’Wan… in the real future.

Was it merely a habit, or intentional? He wondered for a few seconds, then decided to focus on the battle instead of thinking over stupid stuff.