A/N) Oh, wow, thank you for the comments! I know this sequel is a surprise to some but it was an idea that came into my head one day and I just thought it worked as a sequel to 'A Mother's Love'. Hopefully it will continue to work as I write this story…
And for those reading 'The Protector', there will be an update soon. I'm in the middle of writing my last essay I haven't had the time to write the next chapter. Since this story has several pre-written chapters I can update weekly at the moment.
Chapter One
Anakin arrived at the Jedi Temple in quick timing, with Ahsoka at his side and they walked quickly through the hallways to the main Council Chambers.
Ahsoka, struggling to keep up, shouted at him: "Master? What's the rush? If this is an emergency Council session, why am I needed?"
"You are here because I am going to get us assigned to the mission that will be decided upon today," returned Anakin, not halting his progress, but smiling and acknowledging the passing Jedi in the expansive halls. The early Coruscant sun shined through the tall windows.
"Is it bad then?" asked Ahsoka.
Anakin smirked. "If by bad you mean two escaped prisoners on the loose, then yes, it is very bad." He stopped outside the Council chambers. "If you wait out here, I'll call you in shortly."
"Ventress and Dooku have escaped?" she hissed quietly to him, making an educated guess on their identities.
Anakin nodded. "Yes. With the Republic just settling down to peace, this is the last thing we need. They could restart the war. There are still planets out there that do want to keep the war going on until the Republic is crushed."
"Though they are few and far in between, right Master?" clarified Ahsoka.
Anakin inclined his head. "That's right. Just wait here," he motioned to her as he walked inside the Council chamber.
Ahsoka shook her head, her head tails slightly swinging. Leaning back against the wall she settled in to wait.
Inside the Council chambers Anakin sat in his chair, one of thirteen Jedi Masters of the Order, the seat he sat in being an extra one that the Council had put in place due to his defeat of the Sith that had sought to destroy the Republic and the Jedi.
There was only one Jedi missing from the Council and that was Obi-Wan. What they needed to discuss couldn't be left until he became contactable. He'd sent a message to the senior leaders of the Council informing them that he was on his way back to the Temple, so their lack of ability to communicate with him was simply that he was travelling through hyperspace.
Mace Windu, one of the most senior Jedi of the Council, leaned forward, a stern expression on his face. "As you all now know, Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress have escaped their imprisonment here in the Temple. Though it has been two years since we did begin our attempts to rehabilitate them, our efforts have been in vein. Dooku remains insistent that the dark side will overcome the Republic and the Jedi, insisting that the Order is still corrupt. Ventress, on the other hand, refuses to think that the Jedi could ever help her. It has made trying to help them rather difficult."
"And the lack of not knowing exactly where Ventress comes from makes it difficult for us to understand her," commented Anakin. It seemed obvious; she had barely spoken to them in the two years she had been a prisoner in the Temple, apart from to curse the Jedi Order. She wasn't willing to impart any of her history to them.
"Unbeknownst to some of you, Obi-Wan has been carrying out a search for information regarding Ventress' history. As he did spend some weeks with her as a prisoner during the Clone War, he volunteered for this assignment. It wasn't on record so none of you knew of it," continued Mace.
That surprised Anakin. He had thought Obi-Wan had been going off to see a woman, but now it seemed he had been trying to trace Ventress' history. Though Anakin knew his mother was keeping something from him about Obi-Wan, and he doubted she knew of this assignment: the only logical conclusion was that Obi-Wan was probably using this assignment to go and see whoever it was he wanted to see on a more regular basis on the pretence of finding research. Of course Anakin had just assumed his trips away from Coruscant meant that he was seeing someone all the time.
He could, of course, be totally wrong, but the feeling that echoed around his bond with his Master seemed to prod him then, telling him that his original thoughts on the matter were entirely accurate.
"How did Dooku and Ventress escape?" Adi Gallia's voice interrupted Anakin's inner monologue and he zoned back into the Council meeting from his thoughts.
Mace leaned forward in his chair, his hands clasped together. "That we don't exactly know, however we can make educated guesses. Knight Arron was found dead this morning from burns, burns that are consistent with Force lightning. The security cameras insider their cells and outside their cells were all destroyed prior to their escape, which suggests outside help."
"Our theory is a very possible one," rasped Plo Koon, the Kel Dor Jedi Master. "I was the one to discover Arron's body, as part of our routine check on the prisoners thrice a week. I checked the security footage and Dooku and Ventress were last recorded to be in their cells last night, with the last footage just before midnight."
"What is the theory?" asked Anakin. He had an uncanny feeling that he knew where this was going.
"Knight Arron could have been manipulated into aiding them. He was a newly qualified Knight, so he fought in the Clone Wars as a Padawan. Just lately he was becoming vocal about the Count's and Ventress' lack of freedom. He suggested that they should at least be let out of their cells once in a while. These little suggestions, little concerns have been building up the last few months. It is possible he was influenced by the words of Count Dooku. They used him to free themselves and then killed him. We did not prohibit discussions between guards and the prisoners – that is a mistake we appear to be paying for now. If there was undermining manipulation on a Knight…"
"Who knows what else they may have been able to achieve whilst in our custody," swallowed Anakin, feeling a little fear.
"Possible it is, they will attempt to bring war to the galaxy again," reasoned Yoda. "Find them we must."
"They could be anywhere by now," replied Anakin. He had to wonder how Dooku and Ventress had escaped the Temple without being seen, but then both were immensely strong in the Force. They could have made their presences undetectable so that they were not seen. And late at night… the Temple corridors were mostly empty. Dooku was also a former Council member. Like Anakin, he probably knew of other ways out of the Temple. "How can we track them?"
"That will be difficult," admitted Mace. "The cameras went down at one-thirty. With Dooku's knowledge of the Temple, they would have been out within fifteen minutes. And they hid their Force presence's so we cannot detect where they left the Temple. Before summoning you all here, Master Yoda and I checked everything. Neither of us can follow them or even detect a hint of their Force auras. If they are still on Coruscant they are hiding them very well. Much as it pains me to say it… we have lost them." It was not easy to admit that they had failed in their duty to contain two dangerous Force users.
"So we just wait for them to strike?" said Adi Gallia. "The Republic is only just getting over the last war!"
Yoda shook his head, his ears twitching slightly. "Wait we will not. Show willingness to find them to the Republic we must. Dispatch Jedi to the planets not currently aligned with the Republic we will. Use them Dooku may do to restart the war."
Despite the end of the war some systems had decided to remain neutral from the Republic, but still have open trade routes. It was an attempt to placate the systems that hadn't been manipulated by Dooku and wanted out of the Republic until all the problems it had experienced were sorted. Slowly but surely the long process of reshaping the Republic was coming to an end, and it was hoped that the remaining few systems would realign with the Republic in the near future. But with Dooku once again on the loose, that future was now uncertain.
Anakin leaned forward. He knew what role he wanted to take. "I wish to volunteer myself and my Padawan," said Anakin.
"We have another assignment for you and Padawan Tano," replied Windu. "In light of Dooku's escape, he could use unrest in a specific system to gain support for another Separatist cause. Before his death Knight Arron could have been sending communications on behalf of the Count. We are looking into the records to see if we can ascertain whether Dooku was sending instructions through Arron. We have already assigned Master Kenobi to this mission when he contacted us earlier to tell us he was on his way back, so we assigned him this mission then, however he has asked for you, Anakin, and your Padawan to join him. We have agreed to his request."
Anakin looked thoughtful. "You've reassigned Obi-Wan?"
"He has a history with the planet involved…" replied Mace hesitantly. "Otherwise we would have kept him on his current assignment."
Anakin nodded. It seemed reasonable to use a Jedi who had a history with a certain planet. The trouble was, was that Anakin felt curious about the history, and he didn't even know which planet they were going to yet! "What is the assignment?"
"You will travel to Mandalore. It is in connection with an attack made on one of our Republic cruisers by a Mandalorian soldier. As Mandalore remains neutral, and was neutral during the Clone Wars, this attack is either an independent attack made by a terrorist group or sanctioned by the Duchess of Mandalore. This needs investigating to determine whether the Mandalorian soldier was acting on behalf of the Duchess or independently, and if he was, then it could suggest they have a benefactor supporting them. This could very well be Dooku. If we uncover anything regarding any communications Knight Arron sent before his death that is relevant to your assignment, we will forward them to both of you and Master Kenobi," explained Mace Windu. "Obi-Wan will meet you on Mandalore."
Yoda looked gravely around at the Council, his ears drooping slightly. "Hope we must that the Sith are not involved. Hope to find Dooku before creates more trouble for the Republic he does."
Ahsoka had slid down the wall in her boredom. Her Master was taking longer than she had expected, but she supposed they would have a lot to discuss considering Dooku and Ventress had escaped. What was jarring was that she could have been practicing her saber skills, especially as she had just recently adopted the two-blade reverse technique. She still needed to put in a lot of practice before she was sufficient enough to employ that technique in combat.
Patience, Snips, Anakin's voice reverberated through her head.
Of course Anakin would be able to sense what she was thinking.
If you need something to do, go and prepare a shuttle. We have an assignment and inform Captain Rex to stand down. We won't be chasing after Dooku directly, her Master ordered through their bond.
Why not? she asked.
I'll explain later, returned Anakin.
Ahsoka sighed, clambered to her feet and went to do as her Master instructed. She had learnt to trust him, to recognise that he'd rather get moving as soon as possible. Whatever their assignment was she supposed it meant he did have to leave quickly, especially if it dealt with Dooku and Ventress' escape in some way.
Stepping into the shuttle that Ahsoka had prepared for departure, Anakin found his Padawan sitting in the pilot seat. She had grown a lot in the three years he had been teaching her. Her three head-tails had grown past her chest and her two hollow montrals at the top of her head were growing higher: she was fast becoming a full-grown Togruta. He was immensely proud of her and how far she had come in such a short time.
She smiled up at him as he sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "All ready, Master. Engines are warmed and primed to go, all I need now is our exact destination."
Anakin gave her a little grin. Her enthusiasm for their missions was infectious. "We are going to Mandalore. One of our cruisers were attacked by a Mandalorian solider a few days ago. Obi-Wan has been assigned to investigate and he has asked for us to join him. The Jedi Council suspect that this attack could be linked with Dooku and Ventress' escape. We need to uncover whether this Mandalorian attack was sent by the Duchess of Mandalore or if it is an independent attack from a terrorist organisation, that could have been backed by Dooku to help release him." It wasn't his place to tell Ahsoka that a Knight had been manipulated to aid Dooku. Until that information was confirmed (if it was – Arron being dead caused complications as they might not be able to learn if he really had been manipulated into freeing the Count and his apprentice assassin) all he could do was give Ahsoka limited information, though he always made sure to share with her as much information as possible.
"But how would a Mandalorian soldier help Dooku escape? Wouldn't the night guards notice?" asked Ahsoka, programming the co-ordinates for Mandalore into the navigator computer. "Could Dooku have been aided by someone inside the Temple?"
She was far too astute for her age, Anakin had to admit. She had the ability to see things that weren't there. She had managed to guess what the Council were already suspecting. He hesitated before answering. "It is something that we are not ruling out."
Ahsoka nodded, pulling back on the sticks and directing their Jedi shuttle upwards. "I guess there isn't a way we can track Dooku?"
"Not directly," replied Anakin. "There are no traces of him in the Temple anyway. He knows the Force technique to shield your aura so the Jedi Council have no idea how we can track him down. Our only hope is that this Mandalorian attack was influenced by the Count during his captivity, and then we can trace them to where Dooku will be. I doubt he will hide on Mandalore though if he has got connections."
Ahsoka's nose bristled. "Why not?"
Anakin shrugged. "Simply because if he is connected to the attack on the cruiser, the last place you would hide is the very planet that you know the Jedi Council are going order an investigation on." He leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head. "Besides, the Count is quite a slippery fellow. If we find him we are bringing him back into custody. But if he is on Mandalore…"
"Then we can deal with two problems in one go," grinned Ahsoka.
"Exactly," he answered, though he felt less confident then Ahsoka did. He seriously doubted that the Count would hide on Mandalore; there was no guarantee that the attack had been ordered by the Count, but it was suspicious how the two events had happened so close together. If the Council could obtain proof that Knight Arron had been sending messages on Dooku's behalf and making contacts then they would know that it was a strong possibility he was connected to the unrest on Mandalore.
Anakin just hoped that Dooku and Ventress would be recaptured before they could re-establish the Separatist cause. If they did then the galaxy would be plunged into war again, and the Republic, though thriving once again, would be split in two.
And Anakin Skywalker did not want another war.
To be continued…
Please let me know what you think!
Obi-Wan makes his appearance in the next chapter and we move into the Mandalore Plot from Season 2 of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' adapted in this story but things occur differently due to the fact that there is not a war on… yet. But, yes, hopefully my attempts at adapting episodes will work in this new timeline of an era of recovery rather than war.
Until next time,
the-writer1988