Chapter 8: The Obstacles
Anakin stood up as he stared at the computer again. "Is there another way to get inside this?" he asked. Walking around the side, he let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes, we're Paladin and Jedi, yet we didn't think about reprogramming the blasted thing," he commented as he opened the control panel.
"What are you doing?" Dacken asked, standing up.
"Instead of standing hair pulling our hair out over this, we simply start this thing over," Anakin replied as he started reprogramming the machine.
Stepping back, Anakin stared at it. "Now, open," he commanded as the computer relented, opening up to reveal the Star Map.
"Well done Anakin," Obi-Wan said with a grin.
Anakin started downloading the information onto his datapad. "We're getting closer, what is the next planet?" he asked.
"Dantooine," Dacken replied.
They looked up when they heard growling in the distance. "Sounds like we're going to have company," Obi-Wan commented. Anakin pulled out his lightsaber after putting his datapad away.
"Let's gout of here," he answered as they started running back to get out of the Shadowlands.
When they finally got out, Anakin held up his comlink. "Piett, bring the ship back," he ordered.
"On our way," Piett answered.
Anakin moved his fingers through his hair, looking over at his comrades. "Well, three down, two to go," Anakin commented. He suddenly felt the buzzing headache feeling going through his temple, making him wince.
"Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked.
Nodding his head slowly, he closed his eyes as he fought against Sidious's attempt to get into his head once again. Dacken rested his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Just keep concentrating young one. The harder you concentrate the stronger your shield will become. Soon Sidious won't even be able to get any leverage inside your mind at all," he explained.
Swallowing hard, he let out a deep breath. "I know he's after Padmé, he's trying to find where she is to use her and the children against me," Anakin answered.
"Well just keep concentrating my apprentice, Sidious won't win with his mind tricks," Dacken told him.
Nodding his head slowly, Anakin let out a deep breath as the pain kept persisting.
On the other side of the swampy area, there was a Viper Probe Droid that had seen everything. Without the four comrades noticing, the droid took off back to where it had come from.
On his Star Destroyer, Malevolence looked up when Ozzel walked over to him. "Lord Malevolence, our probe droid has returned," he informed.
"Good," the Sith apprentice answered.
Walking over to the computer, he looked at the images the droid had sent. "Did it find out their next destination?" he asked.
"From what the droid's coordinates it sent us Dantooine," Ozzel replied.
Malevolence nodded. "Set a course for Dantooine," he ordered.
Back on Tatooine, Padmé was half asleep while Rowan was fast asleep on her chest. She was rubbing her baby's back humming softly. "MAMA!" Leia shouted, jolting Padmé out of her dozing state. Putting Rowan down into his crib, she hurried to the twins' room.
"What? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Luke!" Leia answered pointing at her brother.
Looking at her son, Padmé saw her son curled up in the fetal position crying in his sleep. "Luke, Luke wake up sweetheart, wake up," she urged, shaking her son gently. The boy woke up with a jump, but was still bawling. "Oh come here baby boy," she said softly, hugging him gently.
"Mama," he whimpered, curling up against her.
"What's the matter sweetheart?" she asked, kissing the top of his head.
The boy sniffled, gripping the front of his mother's nightgown. "Daddy huwt," he replied. She hushed him softly. "Daddy huwt," he sobbed. She hushed him gently, stroking his hair. "Bad man huwt daddy," he told her. She felt her heart plummet a little.
After she got the twins back to sleep, she went back into he room, grabbing her comlink. "Anakin, Anakin can you hear me?" she asked.
"I'm here Padmé, is everything alright?" Anakin asked.
"I'm fine, I just wanted to be sure you were okay. Luke woke up from a nightmare," she replied.
"Is he alright?" he asked.
"He's asleep again, I just wanted to be sure you were alright."
"I'm alright, my love, I promise."
"Where are you going?"
"We're on our way to Dantooine."
Padmé let out a small sigh. "I miss you," she said softly.
"And I you," he answered.
A long, sad silence grew between them. "Anakin, just be careful…please," she said softly.
"I promise," he answered.
Rowan woke up and started crying. "He sounds bigger," Anakin commented.
"He's getting bigger," she answered as she lifted Rowan up.
"I'm sure, hard to believe he's almost five months old," he commented.
She sighed as she cradled Rowan in her free arm. Rowan was staring up at her with his big blue eyes, gripping the japor snippet around her neck again. "He's looking like you everyday," she answered. Anakin chuckled softly on his side of the comlink.
"I doubt it, he looks more like you," he insisted.
Rowan was looking at the object in his mother's hand curiously, reaching up to grasp it. Padmé smiled softly. "What's he doing now?" he asked.
"He's playing with the japor snippet," she replied.
On the ship, Anakin was listening to his son giggle and gurgle on the other side of the comlink. He let out a deep breath, frowning a little. "It's times like this where I miss you, all four of you," he murmured.
"We miss you," she answered.
Wincing, he felt Sidious once again attempting to get into his mind. He sucked in a deep breath without realizing, closing his eyes tight. He almost let his shield down so the pain was a little more than an annoying headache this time. "Ani? Ani what's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing," he replied, rubbing his temple.
"Anakin please don't lie to me," she insisted.
"Sidious is just trying to get into my head," he answered.
He rubbed his forehead as he was able to strengthen his shield, the pain dulling back into the annoying buzzing. "He's trying to get into your head?" she asked.
"He's still trying to manipulate my mind. He's doing whatever he can to make sure I become Darth Vader again," he answered.
"Anakin…" she started.
"It's not going to happen, Padmé. As long as I concentrate on my mental shields, I should be able to repel his attempts. I just need to keep working on it," he answered.
Padmé sighed on her end. "This is what worries me," she said softly.
"He won't win Padmé, I promise. Sidious is going to lose," he answered.
"Do you think he'll try that on the children?" she asked.
"He can't, he doesn't know their Force signatures so it's impossible for him to be able to try to manipulate their minds," he replied.
Anakin let out a sigh when Sidious's several attempts stopped. Glancing at his chrono, he noticed a patter when Sidious would quit his attacks. "Whenever it is this time of night at Coruscant, he stops his attempts," he murmured. Letting out a sigh, he sat back in his chair. "It could be a trick too. My mental shields are up all the time. He's waiting for me to sleep or go into a meditative state," he explained.
"He attacks you in your sleep?" she asked.
"Not anymore," he replied.
Anakin dragged his fingers along the scar over his eye. "I love you," he said softly.
"I love you too Ani. I love you so much," she answered.
"Give the children my love?" he asked.
"Of course," she answered.
"Night Rowan, daddy loves you," he told his infant son.
Padmé smiled as Rowan let out a gurgle before he started falling asleep. "I love you Ani, please be safe," she said softly.
"I will and I love you too," he answered.
Turning off the comlink, Padmé closed her eyes and fell asleep with Rowan on her chest.
Anakin turned off his comlink and went into his meditative state, but making sure his shields were up so Sidious could not begin to manipulate his mind.
When they arrived at Dantooine, Anakin looked at all the ancient rubble. "I can see this is going to be fun to sift through," he commented.
"We better get started," Dacken answered as they started going through the rubble.
"So, even if we find this we have to put it all back together?" Anakin asked.
"No, we just have to unbury it," Obi-Wan replied.
Anakin let out a sigh when he felt someone coming up to them. "Well, I guess you have made this easier than I thought," Malevolence said with a smile. Standing up, Anakin turned around.
"You're coming alone with two Paladin and a Jedi here?" Anakin asked.
The Sith apprentice began laughing. "Don't be foolish," he answered as his army of clone troopers came out of their hiding spaces.
"This just keeps getting better and better," Obi-Wan commented.
Anakin pulled out his lightsaber. "Shall we 'Hero with no Fear'?" Malevolence asked.
"Your move," Anakin answered.
Malevolence lunged at Anakin with his lightsaber drawn. Anakin did a back flip, landing on his feet he deflected the blow aimed for his middle. At the same time, Obi-Wan and Dacken began deflecting blaster shots aimed for them.
Anakin ducked from a blow aimed for his head, thrusting his saber for Malevolence's stomach. Taking the young man's distraction, he tripped him throwing him on his back. Jumping back to his feet, Anakin was able to grab Malevolence's arm, throwing him over his shoulder.
Rolling away from Anakin's attempt to kick him, Malevolence jumped back to his feet before aiming for Anakin's arm. Jumping back, he deflected several more attacks. Backing him up into a tree, their lightsabers were hissing as they were clashed together. "I will prove to my Master that I am a better apprentice than you ever were," Malevolence hissed. Anakin glared at him.
"Prove whatever you want to your Master, he's just going to throw you aside once you are useless to him," Anakin answered.
Kneeing the Sith apprentice in the stomach, he jumped over his head, spinning around and his saber connected with Malevolence's again. "Wait until I kill Anakin Skywalker and get those brats of yours. Do you think that little wife of yours could stop me?" Malevolence asked with a sneer.
"You won't go near my family," Anakin answered, anger showing on his face.
Malevolence grinned when he could feel the anger in the young man before him. "Control Anakin! Control!" Dacken called out. Anakin aimed for his opponent's head when Malevolence grabbed his arm, throwing him down on the ground. Blocking the attack, Anakin was able to reach behind him and grab his vibroblade, stabbing his second weapon through the Sith apprentice's leg. Seeing Padmé's face flash before his eyes, he was able to gain his control again, ripping the blade from Malevolence's leg.
Jumping back up on his feet, he went to cut off Malevolence's arm as a warning when he felt a sharp pain go through his shoulder hissing in pain, he looked over to see that a clone trooper's blast had struck him. Whipping out his own blaster, he fired one shot right to the head and blocked Malevolence's next attack. Kicking the Sith apprentice, he glared down at the man on the ground. Malevolence could feel the anger going through Anakin, but his eyes remained his natural blue.
Getting to his feet, Malevolence held his wounded leg with a glare. "This isn't over Skywalker, far from over!" he hissed before he and his remaining clone troopers retreated.
Disengaging his lightsaber, Anakin held his now throbbing shoulder with a small groan of pain. Obi-Wan walked over, checking the injury. "Just a graze, some bacta will take care of that," he commented. Anakin let out a sigh as he stared at the blood that was now on his vibroblade. "Dacken was right, the Paladin ways are more suited for you my friend," he added. Cleaning off the blade, Anakin returned it to its sheath.
"It's different to be able to feel the anger but be in control," Anakin answered.
"You have come a long ways since your time as Vader," Dacken commented.
Nodding his head slowly, Anakin looked at the rubble. "We should get that data and get back to the ship," he commented. Holding his shoulder, they kept searching through the rubble.
After what seemed like hours, Anakin's arm was beginning to through when he suddenly felt the overwhelming sense of the Dark Side. "I found it!" he called out. Dacken and Obi-Wan hurried over and all three of them began uncovering the Star Map.
They backed up when the machine began opening up. Removing his datapad, Anakin began to download the information. "I just wonder where this is leading us to," Anakin commented.
"Well find that out soon," Obi-Wan answered.
"Where is the last one?" Anakin asked.
The two older men glanced at each other before answering. "Korriban," Dacken replied. Anakin looked at his friends, standing up.
"That's a suicide mission," he answered.
Anakin let out a sigh as he put the datapad back into his belt. "Where?" he asked.
"Supposedly in one of the tombs of a Sith lord," Obi-Wan replied.
"Oh great, that just makes this mission even better," Anakin muttered.
Dacken patted his good shoulder. "Come, you have injuries that need to be taken care of. We need to have some soldiers come down and remove the armor on those troopers. It gives our men more protection," he explained.
"Alright," Anakin answered with a sigh.
They went back to their ship and went to relay the message to their allies.
