A/N: So the vote about starting a prequel or not is in! And the Not Yets! have it in a close 7-5 race. Almost everyone said they'd like to read a prequel, they just don't want me to stop writing this story to do it, so that's what I'll do. Hopefully I get to the prequel one day. :D

Starfighter Bonding (part 3):

Anakin frowned, his hands tightening on the controls, as he tapped into Squad Seven's frequency and all he heard were the nearly identical screams of man after man dying between frantic words of how overwhelmed they were. If he didn't have his Force senses determinedly focused forwards and on flying his stripped-to-the-bare-necessities ship (less weight equals more speed), he'd be feeling their deaths as well, not to mention all of the thousands upon thousands of others as whole Venators succumbed to Separatist firepower in the biggest space battle he'd ever seen.

Although he knew what his objective was – save the Chancellor as soon as possible – Anakin hated the fact that the clone pilots and their gunners were being picked off almost faster than he could count. Many of them were his friends, with bonds formed over countless hours in space together or in the hangars as they tinkered on their ships, and it hurt with every one that he lost.

They need help against those droid fighters or we're going to lose entire squads!

Surely a minute or two won't make any difference to the overall mission?

Decided, Anakin started to swing his Interceptor around even as he said to Obi-Wan, "I'm gonna go help them out."

"No! No." his former Master replied back firmly, halting Anakin's turn before he could complete it. "They are doing their job so we can do ours. Stay on target."

Frag, Anakin snarled to himself as he returned to his previous course and Artoo beeped sympathetically. I hate when he's right. And I hate that we have to sacrifice so many men because he's right.

"Fine," he grumbled over the comm. "Staying on target."

"Don't worry about us, Yellow Leader," Odd Ball piped up suddenly. "This is what we were created for. Just go save the Chancellor and it will all be worth it."

That didn't make Anakin feel any better, but it did reaffirm the deep respect he had for the clones and their relentless determination against the worst possible circumstances that cost them their lives more often than not. As far as he was concerned, their dedication to a government that literally owned them like slaves was more than the Republic actually deserved. But just like the clones, he fought on with them because he saw no other option.

Yet.

"All right, Odd Ball. You just hang in there, okay?"

"I'll do my best, Sir," the clone said with hints of gratitude and amusement in his tone.

"See. They're doing their jobs," Obi-Wan said as relief filtered down their bond. "Now why don't we do ours and look out for whatever it is that's giving me a bad feeling right now?"

Since Anakin was getting that same feeling of impending danger – above and beyond the normal for their current situation – Anakin put extra effort into expanding his senses as he dodged and shot droids and said, "Right. Good idea."

Only a few seconds later, he spotted the threat and called out, "Missiles! Pull up!" as they became the target of a Vulture Droid with a hate-on for them.

Anakin kept half an eye on Obi-Wan and the rest of his attention on the four deadly weapons as they sped towards them. He grinned in satisfaction as both he and his Master held their course until the last second and then dodged out of the way of the missiles.

"They overshot us!" Obi-Wan called in relief.

Anakin had his Force senses locked on the missiles now, tracking their progress. He hoped that the weapons would latch onto other targets –preferably another vulture droid – but they weren't that lucky. (They never were, to be honest.) "They're coming back around!"

"Split up!"

Anakin went left and Obi-Wan went right. Two missiles followed each of them.

He lost track of where Obi-Wan was for a minute as he dealt with own deadly stalkers, but he could still hear the older Jedi over their private comm channel. It was quite amusing, to say the least.

"Oh kriff."

"Let's swing around this…"

"Frag, I hate this."

"All right, Arfour, all right. You can stop cursing at me now."

"Yes, I know that was too close."

"No, I don't need to fly like Anakin to keep us alive."

"What do you mean prove it? I don't need to prove it."

"Oh, and you think you can do better?"

"Fine. But nothing too fancy!"

"Ahhhhhhhh! What did I just say!"

"Well, yes. I want to live, but did your really have to do that?"

Anakin was having so much fun listening to his Master's flying woes that it took him longer than it should have to lead his own missiles into a clear bit of open space so that he could safely pull off one of his favourite defensive moves.

"Ready, buddy?" he asked his trusty droid who knew him maybe even better than he knew himself.

"Ready," the word appeared on the computer screen in front of him even as Obi-Wan was muttering a rather inventive string of Mando'a, Huttese, and Basic curses in his ear.

"Annnnnnd… Now! Surge all power units, Artoo! Stand by the reverse thrusters!" he called as he threw his fighter into a high-speed barrel roll designed to confuse the missiles behind him as they followed his fighter's energy signature until they crashed into each other.

It worked.

"We got 'em, Artoo!"

"Was there any doubt?" came back from the droid at the same time as Obi-Wan said, "That's great. Now… Would it be too much trouble for you to come do the same to mine?"

"Of course not." Anakin answered both as he grinned and then circled back the way he'd come from. He frowned again at what he saw in the debris field of the missiles. Kark. "Kay, buddy, let's go find Obi-Wan before Arfour gives him a heart attack or something." He started flying in the direction he could feel his Master had wandered off to.

"Good idea," Artoo sent.

"Not to rush you or anything, Anakin, but I swear I can feel my hair turning greyer by the moment," the man in question said, sounding just a little bit stressed. (Understatement.)

"Coming, Master. Just don't let those missiles get in front of you. I think I saw the carcass of a buzz droid or two in the missile debris."

"That's just karking lovely."

Anakin pushed his Interceptor to maximum speed as he dodged other Republic fighters, enemy droids, laser blasts from a thousand different directions, debris, and half a dozen battleships that had ended up between him and Obi-Wan.

Meanwhile, it sounded like Arfour had gotten exasperated with Obi-Wan's criticism of her flying.

"No, I don't think I can do a better job."

"What do you mean stop? I'm not doing anything!"

"Fraggity haran, Arfour! Watch out for that…"

"Crap. Fine. I'll fly again."

"Bloody hell. This is insane. Flying is for droids."

"Yes, yes! I apologize. It's all yours."

If the situation wasn't so dire, Anakin would probably be busting a gut laughing right now at how many swears the usually reserved and refined Jedi Master had sprouted in the last two minutes. (At least a month's worth even in normal battle situations.) He had a feeling that Obi-Wan would very happily never sit his arse in another starfighter again for the rest of his life starting the very moment the war ended. And he'd already spent as much of the war as he could doing any dangerous and insane thing necessary BUT fly in the space battles, avoiding them as much as possible.

"Anakin?"

"Almost there."

Anakin finally had Obi-Wan's burgundy and grey Interceptor with its two blue streaking shadows in sight when he saw a stray red laser bolt strike one of the ion engines at the back. The Interceptor lost half its momentum quickly as Obi-Wan and Arfour fought to hold their course steady. The missiles surged in front of Obi-Wan and exploded, releasing their small but very deadly cargo.

Kark, kark, karkity, kark! Anakin swore to himself as Obi-Wan called out, "I'm hit!"

That's what I get for letting myself get distracted, he thought angrily as way too many of the round little droids landed on Obi-Wan's fighter.

"Anakin?"

"I see them. Karking buzz droids."

As Anakin approached Obi-Wan's overwhelmed fighter from behind, he heard his Master say, "Arfour, be careful! You have one…" Anakin winced and Artoo cried mournfully as they saw the astromech's red and silver dome going flying past them. "Oh dear," Obi-Wan said with genuine remorse in his cultured accent. "That's not good."

"No, it's not." Hopefully we can find and rebuild her, or Artoo's going to be devastated at the loss of his girlfriend.

"They're shutting down all the controls!"

Poodoo. I have to do something or I'm going to lose Obi-Wan!

"Hold still so I can get a clear shot," Anakin says as his eyes narrow with determination at the very serious threats to his Master's life.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Artoo sent him.

"What choice do I have?"

"The mission, Anakin! Get to the Command Ship! Get the Chancellor! I'm running out of tricks here."

"Just hang on, Obi-Wan. I'm going to help you."

"Fine. But…"

Anakin cut off any further protestations by shooting at his Master's ship with very careful, Force aided aim. Or more specifically the buzz droids currently ripping it apart with a malicious glee he can actually feel.

He got three of the little fraggers.

Unfortunately, Obi-Wan's malfunctioning ship swerved just a fraction too much at just the wrong time and he also shot the S-foil off the end of the Interceptor's left wing.

Oops.

"In the name of..." Obi-Wan protested.

"Sorry, Master. I'll just…" Anakin started as he lined up for another shot at the shuddering and twitching starfighter.

"Hold your fire! You're not helping here!"

Anakin relaxed his fingers on the triggers as the Force seconded Obi-Wan's call to abandon that method. "I agree. Bad idea."

Anakin surged forward instead to draw alongside the other Interceptor as Obi-Wan cried, "Wait, I can't see a thing! My cockpit's fogging." And then a couple seconds later, he added in a resigned tone, "They're all over me, Anakin, you should just go."

Not a chance in any of the hells.

"Just try and hold steady," Anakin said as he moved even closer, closing the S-foils on his wings so he could try and use the one on his right to scrape off the buzz droids from Obi-Wan's ship.

He only managed to squash one on the first attempt while doing even more damage to the already hurting fighter.

A flash of alarm shot down their bond as Obi-Wan saw what he was doing and all but yelled, "Hold on, Anakin. You're going to get us both killed!"

"No I'm not. Trust me for once, will you?"

Of course his Master ignored one of his many, many pleas to be treated like he actually knew what he was doing sometimes. "Get out of here. There's nothing more you can do."

Anakin snarled to himself. Stubborn arse. "I'm not leaving without you, Master." "Ever," he added mentally through their bond, just to enforce how dead serious he was about it.

Anakin would never leave anyone he considered to be family behind to die again.

"All right, Anakin. Do what you must."

He nudged his ship over another few fractions and scraped his wing over Obi-Wan's again.

This time, he got four of the last five droids and he mentally cheered as Obi-Wan let him feel his relief, love, and even a hint of pride that made Anakin puff up a little at accomplishing something nearly everyone would think to be impossible.

The only drawback was that the last buzz droid took the opportunity to crawl over to Anakin's fighter. Better on mine than Obi-Wan's poor smoking ship. We don't have far to go anyway, thank the Force, since he probably can't see worth a damn out the front.

By some miracle, despite all of their random manoevreing through the battle to avoid the missiles, they'd ended up back near the center again without even trying and Grievous' flagship was once again in sight.

Obi-Wan confirmed his theory a moment later by saying, "Blast it… I can't see… And my controls are all but gone."

"Just stay beside me as best as you… Kriff," Anakin changed his focus as the buzz droid that had been wandering over his precious fighter like it couldn't decide where to start finally set his sights on Artoo. Murderous little bastard. If I didn't need two hands to fly, I would fling that fragger so far with the Force it would get stuck up the exhaust port of that Seppie ship over there.

Instead, he could only watch with baited breath as Artoo extended an electric probe to try and stave off his attacker. "Get him, Artoo!" he encouraged while keeping one eye on their destination and possible obstructions in their path. "Watch out!" he called as the buzz droid almost got past Artoo's defences.

"Artoo, hit the buzz droid's center eye!" Obi-Wan called over the comm helpfully.

Anakin's beloved blue and silver astromech did just that, and the buzz droid went sailing off into space, electricity sparking through its fried circuits.

"Yeah, you got him!" Anakin cheered.

"Great, Artoo," Obi-Wan praised.

"Thanks, Master," Anakin said gratefully, happy his droid hadn't met the same fate as Arfour. (Finding one astromech dome in the aftermath of this mess would be hard enough.) "Stay on my wing, Obi-Wan, the General's Command Ship is dead ahead. We'll aim for the main hangar right in the middle."

"That's all well and good, Anakin, but have you noticed the shields are still up?" Obi-Wan said in his infamous dry tone of blasé amusement.

If Obi-Wan could see the blue shields protecting the hangar from space through the fog and smoke blocking his view, then they were definitely up. (As they should be.) And at their current rate of speed, they were more likely to bounce off them like space junk rather than slip through like a normal ship on its sedate landing approach.

Too late to slow down now, especially since Obi-Wan probably can't, which is what he's probably trying to tell me in his usual roundabout way. Which means I'm being a reckless idiot again. Kark.

"Oh! Sorry, Master!" he said sincerely (for once) and then streaked ahead to shoot out the shield generator that was thankfully on the side of the ship right beside the hangar.

The unfortunate drawback to that was that the massive blast doors started closing rapidly in the next instant.

Anakin circled back around to fall in behind Obi-Wan again so he could watch the sputtering starfighter's progress with the closing door and almost laughed out loud as his Master said the phrase uttered or cursed the most by nearly every Jedi over the last three years worth of never-ending battles:

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this."