Star Wars: Mistakes
The clone wars has been raging for three full months with no end in sight. Mace Windu takes his spot among the Jedi Council after receiving a message from Kit Fisto regarding Dantooine's neutrality proclamation.
"What is Dantooine thinking?" Kit Fisto says upset with the news that was just received over the galactic news. "Stay out of the fighting they want." Yoda says relaxed. "Do you honestly believe that the droids will stick to their words and not conquer the planet?" Mace Windu asks after sitting down. "With the planet being used by a safe haven for the Sith, I say that they will stick to their words." Ki-Adi-Mundi says with his eyes closed doing what he can to not let his emotions boil over. "There's a force user on the planet. Do you think that the Sith plan on making the child their next apprentice?" Kit Fisto says worried about the Sith corrupting the mind of a child. "No, the proclamation said that the child will choose his own path when he becomes of age." Mace Windu says repeating another portion of the proclamation.
"So, Dantooine has made a neutrality proclamation. In return for not being invaded by the droids, they'll act as a safe haven for the Sith." Anakin says walking over, returning from his mission, his gait as arrogant as he is. "This doesn't concern you Anakin, but yes." Mace Windu says sternly. "We're at war, I'm going to need every bit of information that I can get." Anakin says offended. "Correct he is." Yoda says looking at Mace Windu. "Fine, there's also a force user on the planet. None of the Jedi council can go get him as Count Dooku's there at this time and he would do what he could to instigate a fight, which would prove detrimental to our efforts of ending this war as the side the throws the first punch would become Dantooine's enemy." Mace Windu says after sighing. "Not like they do anything for us anyways." Anakin says flatly. "You lack wisdom and composure Anakin. Dantooine supplies a lot of the food that is used to feed the troops." Mace says getting annoyed with Anakin's smart remarks. "Mace, do you think we could send Anakin to get the kid?" Kit says looking over at Mace asking for his opinion.
"If it wasn't for the fact that the rest of the jedi are out on missions and unavailable to take this task, I would say no. Sadly, the situation calls for immediate action. Anakin, your next mission is to retrieve the kid. Under no circumstances are you to engage any enemy that you see on the planet as to not make this situation any worse. Do I make myself clear?" Mace says looking at Anakin with a very serious and stern expression. "Yes Mace." Anakin says a bit bummed out. "Good, you are free to leave at your leisure." Mace says as he turns back toward the rest of the jedi council. "Gee, thanks for the boost of confidence." Anakin says sarcastically before walking to the hangar.
Once at the hangar, Anakin sees his ship and Obi-Wan waiting outside of it. "How long have you been there?" Anakin says smiling a bit. Obi-Wan smiles back and shakes his head. "I've just arrived a bit ago from my mission on Yavin." Obi-Wan says walking over toward Anakin. "You missed a very important mission briefing. This could be my chance to show the council what I'm made of." Anakin says excited. "They already know what you are made of since of your previous mission casualties. Also, be aware, that the mission with the greatest impact on one's reputation is also the one with the greatest consequence if handled poorly." Obi-Wan says concerned. "I haven't failed a mission yet master, I'll doubt I'll fail this one." Anakin says proudly. "That may be true my apprentice, but a lot of your decisions during all of those missions have costed the republic a lot of troops and as such, a lot of resources." Obi-Wan says slightly stern.
"Yeah, Mace did give me a strict lecture about making the right choices and not trying to be a glory hog." Anakin says slightly embarrassed. "And you didn't actually listen to any of that, did you?" Obi-Wan says raising his eyebrow. "Nope." Anakin says smiling. "What Mace says is to help you to become a responsible and trustworthy leader as well as a noteworthy, maybe even a historic example of what a jedi should be." Obi-Wan says concerned. "I know, I know, that's what Yoda tells me after each of Mace's lectures." Anakin says as everything goes in one of his ears and out the other. "
Well I have to report to the council about the mission. May the force be with you Anakin." Obi-Wan says before doing a slight bow toward Anakin. "May the force be with you too master." Anakin says before bowing back. Obi-Wan walks out of the hangar while Anakin heads into his ship. Anakin takes off in the ship and flies out of Coruscant's atmosphere into outer space toward the center of a jump ring.
"R2, set the coordinates for Dantooine, this our chance to shine." Anakin says as he flies toward the jump ring. R2-D2 beeps several times as he sets the coordinates to Dantooine." The fighter craft Anakin is piloting heads into the center of the jump ring and goes to light speed all the way to Dantooine. After several brief micro-seconds of lightspeed, Anakin's fighter arrives at the grassland planet of Dantooine. All that can be seen are grasslands, but as Anakin flies closer to the planet, he sees a couple of houses that belong to the owners of the land.
"Great, I have to search every house on this planet for the kid and hopefully not get in trouble with Mace this time." Anakin says as he lands his fighter next to one of the houses. Anakin hops out of the fighter and R2-D2 uses its rocket thrusters to get out of the slot of the fighter that it was in. Anakin and R2-D2 go up to the house they landed by and knock on the door. The door opens and a young girl appears on the other side of the door. "Daddy, the republic's here." The girl says calling in toward the back of the house, excited that she sees her first republic soldier figure. Anakin looks inside the house and sees a young boy washing his hands in the kitchen sink as the young girls runs over to the couch and jumps onto it. The children are both part of the Dantari tribe. The house itself is small, barely any furnishings that are not made out of animal skin or animal bone. The wood fire burns inside the chimney. The children are dressed in animal pelts.
"Why are you here? The next scheduled collection of your troops food supply isn't for another three months." The father says walking over toward Anakin. The father sets down a crossbow alongside a chair. The father like the children are part of the Dantari tribe and wears similar clothes, but the father has a bone and tooth necklace around his neck.
"I'm here cause there's a force user on the planet and I've been sent here to retrieve him before the Sith makes him their next apprentice." Anakin says unknowingly twisting the truth a bit. "He's not here and to be honest, I don't know where he can be." The man replies shrugging his shoulders before he starts to turn around.
"Okay, do you mind if I ask you one more question?" Anakin says toward the man, causing the man to turn back around to face Anakin. "Sure, but make it fast, I need to go hunting for tonight's food as well as to save up more for your soldiers next supply visit." The man says as he places an laser tipped crossbow bolt inside of a crossbow. "Where is your planet's senator?" Anakin says a bit nervous as the arrow type seems a bit excessive for livestock. "Oh, you must be talking about Sorian Valedro. His house is roughly halfway around the planet, but you won't be able to fly to it over there as I've been told that his house is surround in an energy field that supplies energy only to the guard droids as well as any laser weaponry. That may or may not include your lightsaber jedi, but the droids won't attack you unless instructed to by either Sorian or his son." The man says quirking an eyebrow toward Anakin before setting the crossbow on his back. "Okay, thank you for your assistance." Anakin says turning around. "Good luck." The man says before closing the door behind Anakin.
Anakin starts to head back toward the fighter when he hears a voice. "Mr. Jedi, Mr. Jedi." The young girl says running over toward Anakin. The young girl hands Anakin a sheet of paper that holds a path from the house toward the senator's building. Anakin crouches down and accepts the sheet of paper from the girl. "Good luck Mr. Jedi." The girl says before running back to the house. Anakin looks at a paper. It shows a drawing of the planet and is highly detailed. It shows a general area of the energy field that surrounds the senator's building.
"Let's go R2-D2." Anakin says as he jumps up into his seat of the fighter. R2-D2 uses its jet thrusters to launch back up onto the fighter before going into the slot in the fighter that is built for it. The fighter takes off and flies above the trees as it flies in the direction the paper shows. Very few houses can be seen in the distance, all of them belonging to the Dantari, Kunga, or Mokk tribes that occupy the planet. Several dozen small creatures can be seen running all over the planet. After several minutes of apparent sight-seeing, the fighter begins to shake as it has apparently entered the energy field. The controls begin to fail on the fighter and the fighter crashes into the ground, nose first. Anakin jumps out of the fighter and R2-D2 fires its thrusters to eject itself. The fighter crashes into a rock, badly damaging the nose, but not enough to prevent it from being unable to take off.
"Mace is going to kill me. That's the third fighter I wrecked this month." Anakin says depressed. Anakin looks up and sees a giant mansion. "Well, at least we're at the right spot." Anakin says as he and R2-D2 go up to the mansion gets. Two guard droids stand outside the gate. "Halt, what is your purpose biological creature?" The guard droid to the left of the gate says to Anakin. "I'm here to talk to the senator." Anakin says uncomfortable about talking to the droids as he's used to slicing them. The droid on the right presses a green square button. "Sir, you have someone respecting to see you." The droid says toward the button. "You do not have to call me if it is a person. Just let them in. This place is a haven for all." A mild-mannered, cool-headed voice says on the either side. The guard droid releases the button and presses a red circle button. "Enjoy your visit here. Be respectful when you speak to the senator." The guard droid says as the gates open up. "I will." Anakin says as he and R2-D2 enter the gates.
Inside the gates is a big veranda, with the main level above a massive pool of water. Anakin looks back toward the outside of the gates and sees the semi-sphere that is created by the energy field. Several dozen guard droids walk around the area, all armed with laser repeating blasters. All of them take occasional glances toward Anakin to make sure he doesn't try to destroy something. Anakin sees several libraries to his immediate left and right with a school right beside it. One of the guard droids walks up to Anakin. "Anyway that I can assist you citizen?" The guard droid says with a slightly concerned tone. "I'm not a citizen, but there is a way you can help me. Do you know where I can find the senator?" Anakin says getting a bit used to talking to friendly droids. "The senator is currently talking to a guest that has arrived on the planet in the main building. You are free to head to the main building to meet up with them if you desire. The main building is the one with the crescent moon at the apex." The droid says pointing in the direction of the building that is a bit tall than the rest. "Thank you for your assistance." Anakin says before heading in the direction of the main building.
Roughly halfway to the main building, Anakin gets a feeling through the force that the dark side is getting closer to his position. "R2, a sith is near. This doesn't look good for our chances of talking to the senator." Anakin says looking over at R2 who is trailing behind him. R2 replies with a series of beeps and hums. "I hate to say it, but we may have to fight to leave the planet." Anakin says before taking a deep sigh. R2 replies with a different sequence of noises. Anakin decides to do a bit of sight-seeing on his walk. He sees several different types of stores, a lone tombstone near a tall tree in the center of the manor, and a small hangar that has collected a lot of dust.
Anakin begins to catch sight of the entire main building and the presence of the dark side becomes more and more president as he gets closer to the main building. Anakin takes out his lightsaber and activates it as he walks toward the main building. Anakin walks up the stairs and feels the sith about to come from around the corner that he faces once he turns right at the top of the stairs. Anakin waits for the sith member to be at the tip of the building. Once that moment arrives, Anakin throws his lightsaber horizontally in the direction of the sith. Around the corner, a man with short auburn hair, dressed in glistening red clothing and royal shoes is seen. Anakin takes notice of the man, but is too late as the thrown lightsaber slices through the man and the man falls to the ground, dead before hitting the ground as the lightsaber returns to Anakin.
"DAAAADDDDDD!" A voice says running from behind the corner. Anakin feels the force from the person running. The person is a young boy, middle to late teen years, dressed in the same fashion as his father, but with his hair more gelled. Count Dooku walks around the corner and turns to face Anakin. "Hello Anakin, nice to see you. Learton, this is the man who killed your father. I told you and your father that the jedi would stop at nothing for you." Count Dooku says as he makes Learton face Anakin. Anakin looks into Learton's eyes and sees a mixture of fear, sadness, but most dominant of all is anger. "GUARDS! Kill this man. Count Dooku, you were right, we shouldn't have tried to play neutral. As the one described in my father's will to become the next senator, I hereby have Dantooine side with the Confederacy of Independent Systems and to show my word, the republic shall hereby no longer receive the portion of their food that comes from this planet." Learton says looking up at Count Dooku as three dozen guard droids all aim and fire at Anakin. Anakin blocks, avoids and occasionally bats the shots back at the guards, destroying them one by one until they are all destroyed. Learton takes a step back, afraid of Anakin.
Anakin walks toward Learton and Learton takes a step back in response. "I brought two ships with me. I have coordinates set in one of them. Take that ship out of here. I'll hold the jedi off." Count Dooku says as he takes out his lightsaber and activates it. Learton nods his head and runs off. Anakin runs after Learton and Count Dooku uses the force to pick up several of the guard droid bodies and throws them at Anakin. Anakin sees them heading his way and slashes them as he keeps running and gaining on Learton. Learton senses Anakin gaining and runs even faster, but Anakin catches up and places his hand on Laerton's shoulder. "Let go of me." Laerton says as he tries to pull free. "Let me explain." Anakin says not letting go. "There's nothing for you to explain. You killed my father, that's all there is to it." Laerton says still trying to get free. "Just calm down." Anakin says starting to get annoyed as he starts to believe Laerton's exaggerating the situation. "No, I know who you are, what you do, and what you want, so I will not calm down." Laerton says as he keep struggling to get free. "Just listen to me at the least." Anakin says pulling harder.
"NO!" Laerton says as he inadvertantly exerts a massive amount of the force, pushing Anakin all the way back into a wall near Count Dooku as well as leaving a ring shaped crater around himself before running off again. Anakin hits the wall and becomes disoriented. The impact from hitting the wall causes Anakin's lightsaber to fall out of his hand and roll for several inches. Count Dooku walks over toward Anakin. "Aren't you going to try and strike me down?" Anakin says looking up at Dooku. "My lord would like that, but I'll have the newest member of the Sith exact his revenge and strike you down just like you did his father." Count Dooku says smiling before using the force to set all the guard droids bodies on Anakin before he can get up. Count Dooku walks away.
Laerton runs toward the private hangar that is now his that Count Dooku landed in and sees the two fighters that Dooku was talking about. Laerton turns them both on and looks for one that has coordinates set already. Laerton finds the one with the preset coordinates and hops in fighter takes off on it's own and flies away. Count Dooku arrives at the same hanger twelve minutes later and hops into the other fighter and pilots it off of the planet.
After half an hour of moving the droids bodies off of him, Anakin finally stands up and rubs his shoulders for a minute before holding his hand out so his lightsaber can return to him and it does after a minute. "Can this day get any worse?" Anakin says stretching. "ANAKIN!" Mace says walking over toward Anakin, extremely angry. "It just did. Look Mace, I..." Anakin says trying to explain himself. "You can explain to the council when we get back to Coruscant." Mace says even angrier. Anakin sighs and bobs his head when he does so. "Okay, let's return home." Anakin says as he walks up to Mace. Mace turns around just as Anakin is about to pass him and the two of them walk out of the mansion.
"How did you even find the mansion?" Anakin says looking toward Mace. "Anakin, we are the jedi council, we are more in tuned with the force than any jedi in the galaxy. We could locate any jedi in the galaxy if we give into the force enough." Mace says keeping his gaze forward. "I'm in trouble for this, ain't I?" Anakin says looking at the ground as he keeps walking. "Do I really have to answer that question?" Mace says looking at Anakin with a stern and annoyed look on his face. "Thought so." Anakin says looking up slightly.
Anakin and Mace walk toward the site where Anakin crashed his fighter and Anakin sees that the nose has been repaired. "What the..." Anakin says surprised raising his left pointer finger to the sky in his bewilderment. "I had some clone troopers with me to repair it. Consider this the only time that I won't berate you for wrecking your spacecraft, but don't expect to make a habit out of it." Mace says giving Anakin a stern and annoyed look. "I won't Mace." Anakin says a bit scared. "Good, let's head back to the temple, there's something you have to see." Mace says as Anakin hops into the cockpit of his fighter. R2-D2 uses it's rocket thrusters to send it up onto the fighter top and then it moves into the slot made for it. Anakin starts up his fighter and has it fly overhead of Mace and slightly behind him.
Mace walks towards his fighter and hops into the cockpit and starts it up as well. Once both fighters are airborne, they fly up and out of Dantooine's atmosphere into outer space and approach the jump ring they both used to get to the planet to go back to Coruscant. Anakin flies through the jump ring first followed shortly by Mace. Both fighters enter lightspeed and after several brief micro seconds, both arrive at their destination of Coruscant, both fighters fly toward the hangar bay near the jedi temple and both land.
Mace quickly opens up the cockpit and steps out of the cockpit. Anakin opens up his cockpit and jumps out of it. R2-D2 is picked up gently by a long robotic arm and he is lifted out of the slot and set down on the ground gently next to Anakin. Anakin, Mace, and R2 all head to the jedi council room. Once the three of them arrive, they see Obi-Wan and the rest of the jedi council, all of them with either angry, sad, and even a bit disappointed in Anakin. "Failed us, you have Anakin." Yoda says looking at Anakin. "I'm sorry Yoda." Anakin says bowing.
"Anakin, guess who showed up at a senate meeting today." Obi-Wan says looking at Anakin. "The boy?" Anakin asks curiously. "His name is Taerton, the son of the senator, who you struck down, after we told you not to start a fight with the sith on the planet." Mace says looking at Anakin as he heads over to his place in the council. "I was doing what I could to keep him from joining the sith." Anakin says explaining himself. "Yet, your actions have caused just that. Also, Laerton being the new senator has announced Dantooine's joining the CIS." Obi-Wan says sadly. "He really took it that badly?" Anakin says surprised. "You killed his father right in front of him. You think he'd thank you for it?" Kit Fisto says looking at Anakin.
The fighter with Laerton lands on Geonosis and docks inside a hidden hangar, the fighter with Count Dooku follows shortly afterwards and lands next to the other fight. Laerton and Count Dooku exit the fighters at roughly the same time. "I'll show you the way of the sith, but you will not train under me." Count Dooku says looking at Laerton. "Why won't you teach me?" Laerton says disappointed. "I have my own apprentice. Don't worry though, the person who'll be teaching you knows your fury as he feels the same way toward the jedi. I'll have the two of you meet." Count Dooku says looking at a door. Laerton and Count Dooku walk toward the door and enter. Laerton looks around and sees a droid factory. "Follow me young one." Count Dooku says as he motions toward a door close by. Laerton looks over at Count Dooku and runs over to him. Count Dooku opens the door for Laerton and Laerton walks through the door.
Laerton looks around while Count Dooku approaches a droid inside of the room. "Where is General Grievous?" Count Dooku says to the droid. "He's moving to our position." The droid replies shifting it attention to a separate door. The door the droid is facing opens up and General Grievous walks through the door with a droid on both sides of him. "I told you for the 20th time that I don't want to have some fleshbag learn from me. If anyone is going to learn from me they have to be a robot." General Grievous says to both of the droids angrily as he walks over to Count Dooku and Laerton. "General Grievous that's no way to talk about your pupil." Count Dooku says looking at Grievous. "He's not my pupil Dooku. If anything, I'd rather have him scream as it's music to my audio receptors." Grievous says looking at Dooku. "Look into his eyes. You can see the grudge he holds against the jedi, it's about as fierce as yours. At least do that." Dooku says mildly depressed. Grievous lets out a sigh. "Fine, but just that." Grievous says as he looks into Laerton's eyes. Grievous sees the grudge that Dooku speaks of before he turns back toward Dooku. "Well?" Dooku says looking at Grievous. "Fine, I'll take him under my wing." Grievous says looking at Dooku. "Wonderful." Dooku says smiling.
"Where is your apprentice Count Dooku?" Laerton says looking at Dooku. "I'm over here. I just arrived hearing about the news that a new sith has joined us." A voice says from behind the droids, Grievous, Dooku, and Laerton. They all turn around and see Asajj Ventress. "Ah, Ventress, there you are. Yes, he's right here. Laerton, meet my pupil, Asajj Ventress. Ventress meet Laerton Valedro." Dooku says smiling a bit more. "Nice to meet you Laerton. I'm Asajj Ventress. Welcome to the sith. I heard that Grievous has decided to teach you how to fight. I'll be aiding Count Dooku with how to use the dark side of the force." Asajj says with her lightsabers around her waist. "Nice to meet you too." Laerton says nodding his head.
"I'll tell you now that my training is gruesome and intense." Grievous says looking at Laerton. "As long as I can avenge my father's death." Laerton says determined no matter what. "I admit, I like your spirit. Your training will begin tomorrow as we need our rest." Count Dooku says heading over to the door that Grievous entered through. "Come on Laerton, I'll show you to your room. Yours is next to mine." Ventress says as she walks toward the door. Laerton follows close by.