This story takes place in the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series. It happens right after Season 3 Episode: Witches of the Mist. Ventress and Savage Oppress have both left Dooku and the Sith. References are made to the Season 2 Episode: Children of the Force and the Gungan child Roo Roo Page that Bane tries to take.
"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact"
A child, kidnapped. The Jedi Council recently found that Roo Roo Page, a Gungan child destined to be a Jedi that was once nearly kidnapped by Cad Bane, has gone missing. A mission to Naboo reveals that Page was taken and her mother killed by an assailant with a red lightsaber.
The Jedi suspect the involvement of notorious assassin Asajj Ventress, recently betrayed by Dooku. Has Ventress reunited with her former master? Is Savage Oppress behind this attack? Or is there a new Sith that the Jedi do not know about?
Meanwhile, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi struggle to secure the planet Christophsis from Separatists invaders. During their struggles, they discover a new ally, but who is she an ally of?
The whoosh of a lightsaber as it spun in the air deflecting blaster shots, seeing droids fall, this was the glory of battle for Anakin Skywalker. He would never understand the Jedi like Obi-Wan that stayed in the command post . He glanced away from his battle to where Ashoka was fighting with her two lightsabers, but she was holding her own just fine.
Finally, the droids gave up and they pulled back. Anakin kept his lightsaber active a few seconds longer after the droids vanished just to make sure they were really gone. Then he deactivated it and put it on his belt.
"Didn't we already defeat the droids in this sector once already?" Ashoka asked as she to deactivated her lightsabers.
"Yes," Anakin replied.
Ashoka looked at the fallen droids with worry.
"Rex," Anakin ordered, "keep the defenses strong. They'll be back, again."
"Yes sir," Rex told him.
Ashoka followed her master back to the command station where Obi-Wan was supposed to be inspecting the battlefield. He was speaking with Mace Windu via hologram.
"I'm afraid we're tied up at the moment," Obi-Wan was just saying.
"It wouldn't matter if you were not. There have not been any leads on her," Windu said.
Obi-Wan nodded and Windu's image dissipated as he closed the communicator.
"What's up?" Anakin asked, "Oh, you missed quite the fight by the way."
"I'm sure you'll tell me all about it," Obi-Wan replied. "As to your question, it seems that the Gungan girl Bane tried to steal was just kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" Ashoka replied in surprise. She remembered the cute little girl she had helped save form Bane. "Is it Bane again?"
"No," Obi-Wan said, "we're sure of that much. The assailant had a red lightsaber and used the Force. Judging from the person's silhouette, they were too small to be Savage, but he's not the only rogue Sith."
"Ventress?" Ashoka frowned. "I thought she left Dooku."
"She did," Obi-Wan agreed.
"So now Dooku's talked back and got her stealing children?" Anakin demanded, his good mood spoiled.
"We don't know for certain it was Ventress," Obi-Wan cautioned. "The message is being sent to all the Jedi on the field so we can keep watch for anything to do with her. Page is hidden in the shadows of the dark side, but wherever she is it isn't Naboo. I doubt the child would show up here on Christophsis."
"There are Separatists here," Anakin pointed out.
"Master," Ashoka asked quietly, "I'm afraid I don't understand. Wasn't Page taken back to the temple with the Rodian and Nautolean that Bane took?"
"The experience was considered too traumatic for Wee Dun and Zinn Toa, and they were taken back to the temple," Obi-Wan agreed. "But it was decided that Page would be fine and that she could remain with her mother until she reached the normal age that we separate her."
"A foolish decision," Anakin promised.
"In retrospect," Obi-Wan agreed.
"How long ago was Page taken?" Ashoka asked, interrupting the two before another argument could appear.
"Two days," Obi-Wan told her, "why?"
"If Ventress did take her, then wouldn't she likely still have her?" Ashoka asked, "So, if we find Ventress, we find Page."
"That is a bit of a stretch," Obi-Wan admitted, "but possible. We're assuming that it was Ventress."
"How many other rogue Sith are there?" Anakin challenged.
"Just Savage and Ventress," Obi-Wan agreed, "that we know of. We may be dealing with a new opponent. The assailant was reported to only have one red lightsaber, Ventress has two and Savage's is double-bladed."
"So Ventress didn't use both of her blades," Anakin shrugged. "So what?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "Pertaining to more pressing needs, I think the droids are going to try and come from the South now."
Anakain thought about it and shook his head, "doubtful, maybe the west."
"We'll need to send out scouts," Obi-Wan pushed, "I'd rather they go to the right direction."
"Could I go with the scouts?" Ashoka asked suddenly.
Both Knights glanced her way.
"I don't want to just stay here," Ashoka said, "besides, there may be droids but there aren't any Sith here. I can handle droids."
Anakin thought for a moment again, "talk to Rex, and follow his orders. He's got more experience then you."
"Yes master," Ashoka brightened. She took her leave when Anakin nodded dismissal.
"She's as impatient as you," Obi-Wan noted once the Padawan was out of hearing range.
"it's a gift," Anakin shrugged with a smirk as he looekd at the hologram.
"Oh I'm sure of it,"Obi-Wan replied levelly.
Ashoka was glad to walk around. It was in dangerous territory with a few Clone scouts and she had her senses tuned for droids, but she was still glad. She was thinking about Page. It hadn't been easy to capture Bane, and she went through all that hassle, and the girl was still gone in the end.
Rex held up a hand to stop and Ashoka instantly did so. She gripped her main lightsaber, finger on the activator switch. A second later, her senses told her that droids were approaching. Their heavy metallic footsteps were loud.
Ashoka scolded herself for not noticing before. She needed to focus on scouting, not on her thoughts about Page. The group spread out and took cover with Ashoka in the front. One of the clones sent ahead of the group reported back, signaling that it was a small group with a hostage.
Instantly, Ashoka thought about Page and just as instantly she shrugged that off. She cast out her senses and peered at the approaching droids.
The hostage was a human, only a little older than Ashoka herself. She was unconscious, suspended off the ground in the hands of two B-2 Super Battle Droids. A handful of B-1 Droids were walking around the B-2's.
"Well, Commander?" Rex asked her.
"We should rescue the hostage," Ashoka prompted. Page was lost, but this hostage she could save.
"Affirmative," Rex acknowledged. He used a few more hand signs to tell the troops to be ready for an attack. They'd attack on Ashoka's cue.
Ashoka held her lightsabers as the droids drew closer. When she deemed them close enough she jumped out from her hiding place and activated her lightsabers with twin snap-hisses. The clones raised their rifles and started firing to cover her as she ran at the droids.
In one smooth move Ashoka sliced one droid apart and deflected the shot of another back to offline the shooter. Her clones took care of the other B-1's as she deflected a few shots from the B-2's and killed one and then the other. She used the Force to catch the girl and slowly lower her to the ground.
The Clones spread out to make sure that there were no more droids. Jesse, the medic clone with them, knelt by the human's side.
Ashoka felt a prickling as if she was being watched and she looked up. There was no one on the horizon, but she couldn't shake the feeling. Giving up on her eyes, Ashoka closed them and reached out with the Force. She detected nothing. Nonetheless, she was sure they were being watched. Jesse's voice drew her out of the Force.
"No serious injuries, but she should still get medical attention," Jesse told Ashoka.
Ashoka reluctantly stopped her search. "Rex, let's head back. We've been out here for an hour already."
Rex knew better then to disobey a Commander's order. "Waxer, Boil, keep scouting and report back if you see more droids."
The two Clones gave yes sirs and continued on. Rex holstered his blaster and helped Jesse pick up the girl. They began to carry her back to camp, but didn't get too far before Ashoka sensed she was waking up.
"Put her down," she told Rex, "she's coming to."
Again the Clones obeyed her and gently laid her down on the ground. A few seconds later, the girl's eyes fluttered open.
The girl turned her head first to the right and then to the left were Ashoka was sitting. Behind the Togruta were the two clones. She jerked back and sat up quickly. The action was too sharp and made her head spin. Muttering, the girl shook her head but that only seemed to make it worse.
"Just relax," Jesse promised her, "you're safe now."
That didn't seem to sooth the girl. She looked at Ashoka's lightsabers and then up to Ashoka. "Who are you?"
"My name is Ashoka Tano," Ashoka introduced, "Jedi Padawan. These are Captain Rex and Jesse. We're from the Republic."
"Serra," the girl introduced. "What happened to the droids?"
"Scrap metal," Rex promised her.
Serra seemed thoughtful at that. "What about the bad Jedi, I don't know what you'd call her. She had two lightsabers like you only hers weren't blue."
Ashoka paused, "That's a Sith and we call her Ventress. Did you see her?"
Serra nodded, but winced at the action when it made her head throb. "She was with the other droids. They were taking me back to their base."
Ashoka was surprised. Ventress is working with Dooku again. If that's the case then I bet she does have Page.
"Why take you for a hostage? Why not just kill you?" Rex asked.
Serra looked down. She clearly didn't want to answer.
Ashoka decided to let it slide for now. "Can you walk? We're on our way back to the command center. My master is there. You can talk to him."
"A Jedi master?" Serra whispered with wide eyes.
"He's just a Knight," Ashoka promised. She stood and held out a hand to Serra. After looking at it for a moment, Serra took it.
In the distance, the crosshairs of a scope on a sniper rifle focused on Ashoka. The sniper tuned the scope a little more so the crosshairs were between Ashoka's eyes. Her finger was on the trigger. A little known fact was that despite the Jedi's senses, most would not be able to sense the first shot of a sniper until it was too late. The second shot yes, they could judge and deflect, but not the first.
The sniper could also sense that this Jedi was just a half-trained Padawan. It would be easy to kill the little one. A good shot was all that was needed.
She changed her target to that of Serra, and saw the girl walking along with the Jedi and clones. Good, the sniper thought as she lowered the scope from her eye and relaxed her grip on the rifle. As the Jedi walked away, she stood, clicked the safety on the rifle, and slung it over her shoulders.
This was working well so far. Let's hope the Jedi are as gullible as we think they are. If they are, then there will soon be a new set of Jedai lightsabers to add to the collection.
Hello readers! I know my stories up until now have been with Thor and Loki, but i do have other stories including a Star Wars arc. My awesome friends and fellow geeks - Lauren and Heather - have successfully talked me into posting the Star Wars one.
These stories take place during the Clone Wars, but will continue to the Third Movie: Revenge of the Sith, Order 66, and the Star Wars: Rebels series. Right now, it's Clone Wars.