Thanks to everyone who's read and especially those who reviewed! Not much I can say but those wondering how Aayla survived her attack and such ... that'll come out within the next couple chapters that's all for now, enjoy the update!
Chapter 4: Confrontation part 1
Anakin ran with Luke tucked safely in his arms; the trembling ground showed signs that the planet was being bombarded. "Anakin, it's about time you showed up!" Obiwan barked as Anakin joined the gathered leaders of the Rebellion.
"YOU! You did this didn't you? You gave away our position!" Padme accused, Leia starting to whimper in her mother's arms from her jerking behavior.
"Look, Senator," Anakin snapped, causing Padme to take a step back in shock at his tone. "Believe what you want; I don't have the time to argue right now. I want you to take our kids and escape while the Jedi and what troopers we have hold off the Imperials."
"You're not the boss of me, Skywalker," Padme shot back, passing Luke and Leia to Lady Organa. "Number one: I still don't trust you, and number two: there's not enough troopers to back up an invasion like this. Sabé, where's my rifle!""Fine," Anakin rolled his eyes as Padme's handmaiden appeared at her side with two blaster rifles and handed one to the Senator. "Let's, get to the line." He said before turning to his astromech droid and his gold plated companion. "Threepio, Artoo, get the ship ready to go. We'll be getting out of here in a hurry."
"Yes, Master Anakin, we'll have it ready post haste, sir." Threepio stated before turning toward the Corellian Freighter. "Come along, Artoo … Artoo …" Threepio said frilly before growling in frustration. "Wait for me, you rolling tin can!" he called as he waddled behind the happily beeping droid.
Anakin, Padme, and Sabé ran to where the troopers and Jedi were securing the large wall between the city and the courtyard of the shipyard. "Ah, my former Padawan, you're doing well. You already have your ex and her friend running after you with firearms."
"You know me, Master, have to get things settled right away," He added with a smirk as Padme scowled at the pair.
"This is no time for jokes," Padme snapped.
"What are you talking about, my lady," Obiwan bowed mock-humbly. "Who wants to die not having fun?"
"Showing off for your allies time for later, there will be, Master Kenobi," Master Yoda said, moving to their side. "Ask you two, I must, to stay with the group … for easy escape. Make it so we must save you before we escape, do not." He said with a smirk as he continued past them.
"Was the little frog acting froggy?" Anakin asked with a lopsided smile.
"I believe he was; odder things have happened, Anakin," Obiwan chuckled.
"No, they haven't, here we go." Anakin nodded to the jerking barricade.
"We have five hundred troopers at the door, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker," a trooper said running to him.
"That all? I figured the Palpatine would consider us more of a threat," Obiwan blinked before igniting his saber.
"Two fifty a piece, Master?" Anakin said, lighting his.
"Do not forget we're not the only ones fighting today," Obiwan added, nodding to Padme, Sabé, Barriss, Aayla, Shaak, and the other sixty something untrained soldiers.
"So, Two fifty a piece, Master?" Anakin smirked, turning his back to duck the five death glares from the girls.
"Are you saying we can't help?" Aayla replied, her head tails trembling with her temper.
"What? No, just … well, we figured … you want to give it a try then?" Anakin said, glancing to Obiwan. "Ok, we'll stand back and let you guys handle this one." He said as he and Obiwan replaced their sabers. "That is ok with you, Master?" Anakin said, winking his right eye so the others couldn't see and rubbing his chin.
"Don't see anything wrong with that, Anakin," Obiwan said, scratching his ear, blinking twice, and then rubbing his mustache and beard.
Padme and Barriss both lifted their eyebrows as Anakin and Obiwan in unison sat down cross-legged with relaxed smiles on their faces. "Go right ahead." Anakin motioned to the barely standing defense door.
"They're insane …" Barriss blinked before shifting her grip on her lightsaber.
"I could have told you that a couple years ago, Offee …" Padme muttered as she trained her blaster rifle on the door.
Anakin smirked at Obiwan as he brought his lightsaber up to his lips like a microphone, "Thank you for joining us today on Alderaan for the battle of the Imperial Clone Troopers against the Rebel Alliance. This is Jedi Anakin Skywalker and his sidekick, Obiwan Kenobi reporting live!"
"Sidekick?" Obiwan cocked an eyebrow, but turned his attention back forward as the door burst open. "And we're off!"
Blaster fire started instantly, beginning from the Imperials, but returned by the Rebel troopers and deflected back by the Jedi. "So far it looks the Rebels are off to a good start." Anakin stated, watching the battle.
"Indeed, my former Padawan," Obiwan stated, "Jedi Barriss Offee and Jedi Master Shaak Ti have improved a great deal since the last time we've seen them in combat."
Anakin's watchful eye watched them as they moved gracefully, avoiding their friendly fire and deflecting the blasts back at the attacking clones. "Most interesting, Master," Anakin smirked when Barriss flipped through the air to block a blast toward one of the troopers then watched Shaak Ti carefully as she did a similar move. "You'd think Jedi Offee and Master Ti would be quite conservative, would you not?"
"That I would, Anakin, but after seeing what I have seen just then, I would have to say that the girls have a bit of a naughty side to them." Obiwan said with a snicker.
"Indeed they do, Master, despite the bulky, form covering Jedi robes, which have given them the false image of noble, conservative Jedi Knights, their flips and jumps have proven otherwise to these simple humble observers." Anakin grinned as Barriss and Shaak cut their eyes to the nearby pair.
"You would think with all the advances in science that they would use the revolutionary device that has been given the title panties or undergarments." Obiwan grinned.
"That is true. Perhaps the lack of undergarments give the beautiful Jedi a sense of freedom or perhaps it's like the trait I have seen in my ex-wife I like to call … Nubian Naughtiness." Anakin said with a smirk. "Duck," he added calmlyas he and his former master ducked the flying debris launched their way from the two Jedi in question.
Obiwan then glanced to Padme who was laying on her belly to fire her blaster. "I see what you mean, Anakin. If you look a certain way you can see a birthmark on Padme's right cheek."
"That's no birthmark, Master Obiwan," Anakin grinned proudly as Padme glanced back wide-eyed. "That's a Tattooinian hicky; one of my best. A good one of those plus force power can last a couple years."
"You kissed her ass?" Obiwan glanced with a cocked eyebrow to his former student.
"Of course. How else does one get a senator to sleep with him?" Anakin shrugged, making good on one of the few times he felt comfortable joking about his recent past.
"Excellent point, Padawan." Obiwan nodded as Anakin ducked to the side as a stun blast came from Padme's position.
"Oops." Padme growled before reset her blaster to lethal and continued firing on the invaders.
"Uh Oh …" Obiwan narrowed his eyes and let the smile ease off his face. "Looks like they're tired of playing." He said as twenty troop star-transports landed and began unloading their troopers.
"I thought you said we'd let them have two waves?" Anakin said standing up. "But I see your point; it looks like give or take a thousand troopers. That looks like a decent push. And it'll be at least few cycles for all the ships to get in the air."
"Shall we join the party now, Anakin?" Obiwan motioned toward the archway.
"Age before beauty," Anakin saluted with his lightsaber before lighting it.
"What are you two doing?" Shaak Ti called out as Obiwan and Anakin ran to the archway passage.
"We're just going outside for a while; don't let anyone but us through this arch!" Obiwan replied before they jumped into the massive army of clones.
"Impressive they have become," Yoda nodded from his perch, regretting losing his lightsaber in the Senate Chamber weeks ago and yet to have an opportunity to replace it.
"Impressive, isn't the word …" Shaak Ti replied, watching the two Jedi cut through the troops like a lightsaber through steel. "It's like watching the Force itself in action."
"Do you know what this reminds me of, Master?" Anakin said, slashing five troopers with one attack. "Remember when you fell into the Droid Army factory, and the finished droids weren't happy to see us?"
"I seem to recall it differently," Obiwan said as heForce shoved a group of clonesbefore pushing his saber into the chest of a clone trooperand spinning, taking out the trooper and the troopers around him. "As I remember it, you tripped the alarm and the floor opened under me."
"I don't remember that," Anakin smirked, performing a Force shove of his own.
"They just keep coming," Obiwan complained as he continued to slash and stab.
"Hey, if Palpatine wants to throw away his clones, who am I to complain?" Anakin replied, deflecting a blaster shot, then slashing a trooper's head off. "Obiwan, behind you!" Anakin called, allowing his former master to deflect an attempted surprise attack, but Anakin himself cried out with pain as a commando attacked him from behind, sinking an energy dagger into his shoulder.
"ANAKIN!" stereo feminine voices echoed as a black and green blur joined him at his side, slashing at the surroundingclone troopers while a short distance away, Padme ducked and dodged while firing on the commando attacking her ex-husband.
"Padme?" Anakin blinked in surprise.
"Don't read too much into it," Padme growled, firing a few more shots. "The last of the ships are away; the only one left is your jalopy."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Anakin grunted, gripping his shoulder.
"Just this." Padme smirked and heldup a thermal detonator. "Fascinating toy, this is."
Barriss gawked while Anakin and Obiwan chuckled. "Fire in the hole." Padme warned as she pressed the button on the top of the metalsphere and rolled it into the oncoming troopers, leading the Jedi in a full sprint back to the courtyard archway.
The group dodged the blast of the detonator and found the waiting freighter humming for them. "Listen to that baby purr," Anakin sighed as the four ran up the loading ramp.
"Daydream later, flyboy," Barriss stated, shoving him up the ramp.
"Master Anakin, there's something you need to …" Threepio said as the group ran past him toward the cockpit.
"Tell me later, Threepio, like when we're safe in hyperspace," Anakin wavedthedroidoff as he, himself,dropped down into the pilot's chair.
"But sir! That's what I'm trying …" Threepio tried again, but Anakin just held up his open palm toward Threepio and closed it into a fist. "Well, I never … Such rudeness."
"Fly, baby, fly …" Anakin said as the ship lifted into the air and shot toward the skies. He glanced from his instruments to Obiwan, satisfied with the ship's performance, andthen yelped when he felt a stinging sensation on his shoulder. "Padme! What the Force are you doing?"
"You're hurt, stupid, now shut up and take the Bacta patch like a man." She snapped, "TURN! TURN," pointing forward, and the blond Jedi followed her finger to see an incoming Imperial fighter bearing down on them.
He muttered a curse as the ship turned a hard left, sending Padme tumbling into Barriss' lap.
"That's why you always wear your safety belt," Obiwan smirked back at the girls, "Especially when he's driving."
Padme blushed and wordlessly managed to climb over to her seat as Anakin made the ship twist and turn in space dodging fire and ships. "Got the jump plotted, Anakin," Obiwan stated suddenly, and Barriss and Padme both slumped back in their seats in relief.
"Now, Padme, Barriss, watch the perfection of my prized creation …" Anakin beamed as he gripped the switch for the Hyperdrive. He pushed it forward, but instead of the building hum and the star-lines, there was only jerking and the sound of grinding down metal.
"Watch what again?" Padme quipped.
Anakin's eyes widened as he looked over the panel, working the switch back and forth. "I … it … what?"
"That's what I tried to tell you, SIR! The Hyperdrive short-circuited during the previous jump," Threepio yelled irately. "It's impossible for the ship to go to Hyperspace! Why, why I ask, did my maker have to be a complete imbecile?"
"It's … It's not my fault …" Anakin muttered as he got up and began hitting switches.
"Great, now what are we going to do?" Padme asked as the ship shook from blaster fire.
"We shoot back while Anakin gets the ship flying again." Barriss said, unstrapping herself from her seat. "You want top blaster pod or bottom?"
"I like it on top," Padme stated, and Anakin glanced back with a smirk.
"I already knew that, so which pod?" Anakin asked. Both girls groaned and shoved him out of the cockpit and then made their way to the blaster pods.
Obiwan remained alone in the cockpit with the two droids, attempting to dodge fire, but was far less talented then Anakin. "Oh, I hate flying…" the Jedi Master muttered as the cockpit jerked again.
"Obiwan, do me a favor," Anakin's voice sounded on the com. "Send Threepio back. I need parts."
"S-Sir … that imbecile statement was just a glitch in my vocal programming, I didn't mean it … honestly, you are a fine creator, Master Anakin …" Threepio muttered as Artoo made a sound distinctly like a laugh.
"Don't worry, Threepio, I'm sure Anakin will put you back together when we reach Bespin." Obiwan nodded as Threepio reluctantly and started toward the hatch.
"Oh, dear me …" was the last Obiwan and Artoo heard as the hatch closed behind him.
Up in the gun pods, Barriss and Padme were fighting to keep the fighters off the ship. "Any time today, Skywalker!" Padme yelled into the com-link.
"Almost got it …" Anakin's voice sounded through the calm. "Threepio, give me your other arm gyro!"
"Poor Threepio …" Barriss chuckled as she took out another fighter.
"Got it!" Anakin said, popping up from the engineering duct, and yelled up the hallway. "Hit it, Master!" As the words left his mouth, the Hyperdrive came online, throwing the ship forward and sending what's left of Threepio's body onto Anakin. Anakin yelped from the impact as he and the complaining head and half a torso fell down in the duct.
Barriss and Padme walked back into the cockpit to find the kicked back Obiwan with his feet on the side of the console and his arms folded behind his back.
"Where's Anakin?" Barriss asked as they took their seats.
"I don't know; he called Artoo to the back for something. Haven't heard anything else." Obiwan said, "We should reach Bespin in less than an hour."
"Thank goodness, maybe then I can get repaired properly …" Threepio complained as the door opened. The three present had to restrain their laughter at the site of Threepio's upper chest and head strapped onto the dome of the Astromech droid. "I do not know what you're snickering at … This is a gruesome, disgusting situation, not comical! I do not care if he is my maker; he is a very, very irritating man!"
"Thanks for the compliment, Threepio." Anakin rolled his eyes as he walked in behind them, still favoring his shoulder.
Anakin groaned and rubbed his injury as he sat down in the pilot's chair. "You need to have that looked at when we get to Bespin."
"I'll be fine, Padme," Anakin stated, not looking back at her. "You didn't nag this much when we were married."
The cockpit fell into an uncomfortable silence. "How's Luke doing?" Padme asked in a small voice.
"Great, he's all boy, and growing like a weed." Anakin answered shortly, still not looking back.
"So Barriss, let me show you the new game table I installed recently," Obiwan said standing up, "Threepio can tell you more about the I can." He said ushering compliant young Jedi and the irate combination droids out of the cockpit.
"Is there any reason you've been avoiding OUR son?" Anakin asked, feeling the anxiety flowing from his ex-wife through the Force.
"I haven't been avoiding him, Anakin," Padme stated with a trembling sigh. "I've just … been busy with gathering the Alliance."
"You haven't been too busy to coddle Leia." Anakin stated, a strange sense of satisfaction flooded him at her flinch.
"I've decided to ask Owen and Beru to be Luke's godparents." Anakin continued before she could reply. "Have you decided on Leia's?"
"Godparents?" Padme squeaked slightly, surprised at the change of subject.
"Yeah, I want him to have a good family when I fall and if something happens to you." Anakin stated again, fingering the controls of the console.
"What do you mean when you fall …" Padme asked, growing slightly pale.
"I'm not as naive as the boy you and Master Qui Gon found on Tatooine, Padme," Anakin sighed, finally turning his chair to face her. "Palpatine hates the Jedi … and he's especially going to be after me. I was his apprentice. I betrayed him and his teachings, no matter how twisted they were … I hurt his ego, and he's going to want me dead. And in case you didn't notice, our forces aren't exactly extravagant."
"You can beat him though …" Padme said in a small voice, glancing up in surprise when Anakin laughed strangely.
Anakin held up his gloved fist. "Dooku took this one, and I didn't learn enough then," Anakin said, flexing his other hand, "Obiwan finished my lessons in humility."
"Obiwan … what did … did he hurt you on Mustafar?" Padme was staring wide eyed at this point.
Anakin gave a humorless chuckle before blinking at her expression. "You really don't know, do you? Obiwan never told you what happened after … it happened?" he said referring to him knocking her down and unconscious.
"He never said much of what happened, no one did," Padme furrowed her brow in thought. "All he said was that he did the hardest thing he ever had to do … Anakin, what did he do?"
"He told me not to do something, and I didn't listen one final time," Anakin said, leaning back.
"Annie …" Padme pressed.
"Anakin, my name is Anakin," He said in a sharp tone, seeing that the stab hit her as hard as it hit him. "He had the high ground; I was on a piece of debris in the lava river. He told me not to jump, that he had the high ground … I should have known better, but I was so sure of myself … I had bought into Palpatine's belief that the Dark Side could give one god-like power… He told me not to jump … and I jumped." Anakin's fist trembled slightly as he remembered the events. "Obiwan's lightsaber severed my good arm and both my legs. I fell and slid down the bank so close to the magma that the heat caught my robes on fire… had Obiwan not pulled me from it and put out the flames … I don't like to think about what could have been …"
Of all the reactions Anakin expected, Anakin never expected the one he got. "It's all my fault …"
"What?" Anakin blinked, completely caught off guard.
"I led Obiwan there, remember?" Padme said, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "And before that … I made you keep everything hidden … the life of a Jedi is hard enough, and I just complicated it further … The divorce was probably the best thing that ever happened to you, Anakin." She said, shooting up from her chair and leaving the cockpit before Anakin could say anything.
Anakin swung his chair back around to face forward while rubbing his face. "That could have gone better …" he muttered to himself.
"How's the head count, Mon Mothma?" Obiwan asked over the com as the ship flew toward the cloudy world of Bespin.
"We only lost a few in the escape, General Kenobi, General Skywalker," Mon Mothma replied over their secure channel. "Our forces stand at five hundred forty seven ground troopers and twenty five officials, excluding you four."
"Thank you, Mon, we'll be arriving within the hour, Skywalker and Kenobi out." Obiwan said, shutting off the com. "Barriss, go check on Padme, will you?" he asked the Knight, who nodded and exited the cockpit. "This doesn't look good Anakin. We need to even the odds."
"It's been only a couple months since it all went down," Anakin mused, rubbing his chin.
"Yes … why?" Obiwan asked, cocking a worried eyebrow.
"Surely he hasn't had time to find an apprentice … since I did so well keeping his teachings," Anakin narrowed his eyes. "I could maybe keep the final lesson of a Sith."
"And that is?" Obiwan asked uncomfortably.
"The Apprentice will always kill the Master."
To Be Continued …
Next Chapter: Anakin faces the Emperor and what he could have been ...