Overconfidence is the most dangerous

form of carelessness

Ahsoka's security duty had finalized the same day it started, interrupted by Cad Bane's heist for the Holocron. She had caught his accomplice, a shapeshifter who had adopted Madam Jocasta Nu's complexion, and who had told them Bane's next target. Anakin could sense Ahsoka's pride in the matter, proving herself after what had happened in Felucia.

Anakin, Ahsoka and a handful of clones had boarded the Separatist frigate. She had found Bolla Ropal, the Jedi that had the Kyber Crystal, which made it possible to read the Holocron. He was dead.

Anakin knew that he was a new target, and so was his Padawan. Cad Bane was in need of another Jedi to reveal the secrets of the Holocron.

Now they were in the hangar, fighting against droids and Bane himself. It had clearly been a trap, and they had fallen right through. R2 turned the gravity generation back on, and Cad Bane fell, dropping the Holocron. Anakin tried to reach for it, but the bounty hunter was surprisingly fast. He took it and ran with it. Skywalker was ready to chase after him, but Cad Bane made sure he couldn't. As he stopped the imminent death of one of the clones, Ahsoka ran by him.

"I'll get him, Master."

"Ahsoka, wait. It's a trap!" He yelled, but she was already running out of the hangar into the halls chasing Bane. He put the clone down, and ran after her. He could feel his chest tighten. Ahsoka was quick to run behind trouble, and could not foresight the bigger picture. Just as in Felucia, and once again putting her life at risk.

"Ahsoka, wait!" He repeated, using his Force sprint trying to catch up to her. "We'll take him together!" But he was too late. He could only see her speeding behind Bane as the door shut down. Anakin quickly penetrated the door with his lightsaber, he couldn't let Ahsoka face Bane alone. He knew that the bounty hunter wouldn't hesitate to get rid of her as he did of Bolla Ropal. But, to Anakin's luck, the ceiling started to fall. One of those stupid droids had hit a power cell, and now the hangar was collapsing. He looked up just in time to protect himself from a large piece of debris, but not quick enough to get off its way. The metal knocked him out.

Ahsoka ran behind Bane without looking back. She had been faster than her master, and was now chasing him in the halls. She had heard Anakin's plead to wait, and as much as it had tugged at her having to leave him behind, she ran for the opportunity. Even after being the one who caught Bane's accomplice, Felucia still had a heaviness in her heart. She felt the need to prove herself to the Council, and to Anakin. Capturing Cad Bane would have to do.

Ahead, the bounty hunter stopped in front of a pair of closed doors.

"You thought you could get away?" Ahsoka said, taking her fight position.

"You're not much of a challenge, youngling." He condescendingly said, "I got you right where I want you." He turned, and it was then where it clicked to Ahsoka.

Her master had said it was a trap, she had not paid attention to what he had said back then, being too busy chasing Bane to. Now, she understood. He needed another Jedi to open the Holocron.

Bane pulled his blaster, and shot at Ahsoka. She deflected it easily with her lightsaber, getting him back on his left arm. That was it, that was the moment to attack. She lunged for him, only to have him kick her lightsaber away. He pulled the blaster again, but Ahsoka was not about to let him have this one. She grabbed his arm, twisted it, and pulled him down on the ground.

"I'm not impressed," she said, as she stood with one hand one her hip over him. She reached out through the Force for her lightsaber, and for that second, he had the advantage. She was distracted, and thought she had won already. She was wrong. Bane quickly grabbed her ankle, and released a discharge of electricity through his arm. Ahsoka felt the pain immediately, screaming in pain as the current spread through her body. It was agony. She fell down, almost unconscious. Her sight was clouded, and she couldn't feel her body, but all that she could think about was what her master had said. I'm sorry, master, she thought, and then everything was black.

At the hangar, the debris has finished with most of the droids, and whatever ones were left had been finished by the remaining clones. Anakin lay unconscious under metal debris, until he heard it, felt it. His eyes snapped open at the scream of his Padawan. He had sensed her pain, her uneasiness. Something had happened, Bane had done something.

He clenched his hand in a fist, and moved all the debris away with the Force.

"General Skywalker," said a voice on the other side of mountains of metal. Anakin knew it was Rex. They might all be clones, but they were not all the same. "Are you alright in there?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." Anakin responded, "Get back to the hangar. Find a transport, but wait for us as long as you can."

"We're on it, sir." Rex confirmed.

And with that, he turned to his communicator. "Ahsoka, do you copy?"

"There's a power surge heading toward the bridge. If you're there, get out immediately. You must abandon your mission." Admiral Wullf said through the comms.

"I don't have the Holocron memory, and I seem to have misplaced my Padawan."

"The ship is tearing itself apart."

"Move to a safe distance, admiral, and await my signal for evacuation.

The ship, just as the Admiral had said, was falling apart. Anakin could hear it, but there was no way he was leaving without Ahsoka, or the Holocron.

Ahsoka had woken up in one of the ship's compartments, and one she did not like, in a position she did not like. Behind her she could see the pitch black of outer space. If the doors opened, she was done for. Bane was in front of her, giving her his back. Ahsoka looked at her wrists, at the manacles, and tried to pull them open. Instead of breaking them as she expected, another surge of electricity ran up her arms, causing her to voice out her pain.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that," said Bane gesturing to her face, at which Ahsoka moved away."Those binders have been specially designed for Jedi." He reached down, and pulled her Padawan braid, breaking it off. "Impressed now, youngling?"

"Not really," she responded, looking up to his red hideous eyes. She wanted to take that grin off his face so bad and take her braid back. "Enjoy this while you can, sleemo." She continued, having heard the explosions in the back. "This burning boat is about to finish us both off."

"Hmm. We have time." He responded, seemingly unbothered by the fact that, just as she had said, the briguete was falling apart. "The bond between a Jedi teacher and his apprentice is strong.

"Which means my master will be coming for me any minute."

Another grin appeared on his blue face, as he placed Ahsoka's brain on his belt. She didn't know why he wanted it, but there was something she knew. Her master would come for her, she could sense it. That had been Bane's plan all along. He counted on their bond, in him coming for her. He still needed a Jedi to open the Holocron, and she didn't know how to. She was the bait, and Anakin was about to walk right into the trap, for her. She looked down, feeling ashamed to have fallen, or more like ran into that situation. She had let Bane get the upper hand.

"Lets see if we can get him here any faster." The bounty hunter said, pressing the button that electrocuted Ahsoka once again.

Following Ahsoka's trail was easy, the connection between them was strong, enough for Anakin to sense the wave of pain as his Padawan, and another one not long after. Bane was doing that on purpose, calling him. He could feel the anger rise in him as he strode down the corridor to the three droids guarding the door he knew Ahsoka was behind.

"You said we would be safe back here!" One of them demanded, running to the control panel next to the doors.

"Come on, there's three of us and only one of him,"

"It won't matter," said the third one, clearly giving up.

"Sir, a a Jedi is coming." voiced the first droid. Anakin knew he was talking to Bane. "He looks very unhappy,"

Unhappy was an understatement, he was furious. Bane was smart, he had moved the pieces like a game, and had him right where we wanted it. Anakin knew that, but his Padawan was there, and he was not going to leave her. Besides, Bane had the Holocron as well. If all went well, Anakin could recover both and call the mission a success. He destroyed the droids quick enough, and opened the doors.

"You have nowhere left to run, bounty hunter." Anakin said, walking in. Cad Bane was there, along with two super battle droids. And behind a yellow magnetic fence, was Ahsoka.

"Let me worry about that, Jedi." Bane said, "If I activate this control, the outside air lock will open, and she will be sucked into oblivion. Do you think you can kill me and then save her before she's pulled out into space?"

Well, that was the plan. It was stretching it, but when didn't he stretch the plan?

"It's a horrible way to die," Bane added.

Anakin frowned, looking at the bounty hunter. He was trying his best not to jump at him and do what the blue face had just said, kill him. He looked past him, to Ahsoka. She gave him a look of sorrow, he knew she lamented being in that situation, he knew she was sorry she didn't listen to him. Oh Ahsoka, she kept learning the hard way.

"Besides, isn't negotiation the Jedi way?" Bane said, tugging at Anakin's beliefs.

"What do you want?" Anakin finally said, putting his lightsaber away.

"This Holocron carries information I've been paid to collect. I can't unlock it, but you can." Anakin wasn't shocked, he had imagined this was Bane's plan all along. "The last jedi who had it wouldn't open it, I hope you don't make the same mistake."

Anakin looked at Ahsoka again, he had to save her, but he couldn't just open the Holocron for Bane. He felt cornered, and he hated it.

"We don't have much time." Bane pressed, "Hurry it up, Jedi, or she dies!"

"No, Master! Don't do it!" Ahsoka said from the airlock. Even then, she was trying to do the right thing. She knew how important the Holocron was, and was willing to die for it not to fall on the worn hands.

"I can't let you die, Ahsoka." Anakin muttered, loud enough for Bane and Ahsoka to hear. He wasn't going to let his Padawan die. He didn't have another option but to do it.

"Master, no!" She said again, but Anakin put down his lightsaber.

"We'll deal with the Holocron later," he told her. They would have to worry about it, but for now he was worried for his Padawan's life.

"How touching," Bane commented, to which Anakin shot him a piercing look. He hated that blue man.

As the explosions on the ship kept getting louder and louder, Anakin proceeded to open the holocron. Bane took the cube in his hands, going off about how his client was going to be pleased, but Anakin was thinking beyond that. He called on the lightsabers to him through the Force swiftly, one in each hand, and destroyed the two droids as they approached. He was about to go for Bane when the latter reached for the control panel on his arm. Anakin's heart skipped a beat, as the airlock doors started to open. Ahsoka was quick to hold on tight to what she could, as well as Anakin. Bane took off quickly, Holocron in hand, but Anakin was too busy to worry about it at the moment. The airlock was sucking everything out, the debri of the droids, and soon them if he didn't do something. Ahsoka let out a yelp, making it clear that she couldn't hold for long. Anakin reached for the button to close the airlock, fighting against the suction of the biggest vacuum in existence. He managed to press the button, just as Ahsoka's grip on the handle ran out, and started to be sucked out of the ship. Anakin reached out for her immediately, and she grabbed onto him with both hands. He could feel his muscles beginning to burn just as the airlock closed completely. They fell over, and both exhaled deeply. They stood up, and Anakin cut Ahsoka's manacles off, giving her back her lightsaber. They didn't have time to talk about it, they could hear the ship tearing itself apart.

"Rex, I hope you found us a ride off this bucket!" Anakin said through his comlink as the duo ran through the halls.

"We've got to leave now, the reactor is gonna blow up. We cannot wait!" Rex demanded, blaster shots in the background.

"You'll have to. I'm going after that bounty hunter." Anakin replied with determination in his voice.

"Master, wait. Stop!" Ahsoka called, as she came to a halt. The ship was going to blow up, and soon. She could not let her Master blow up with it too. As skilled as he was, it was stretching it too thin.

"This is the way to the hangar," she said, pointing in that direction, "We must get off this ship now." She insisted with a firm voice that gained her master's attention enough for him to stop and turn toward her.

Ironic, wasn't it? Ahsoka thought. The same way that she had run after Bane before was the same way Anakin was running after him now.

"I can't let Bane get away," Anakin responded quickly, eager to return to his chase.

"Patience!" Ahsoka exclaimed, her tone higher this time, clearly irritated, "Master," she added in a calmer voice.

Anakin looked down, and she could tell he was giving it a second thought. She knew about the Holocron, oh Force, it had been her fault that Bane had run with it in the first place, but they had to get out of there soon.

"Patience," she repeated.

Then, her master said something she never thought she would hear.

"You're right."

He walked back to her, and they both ran their way back to the hangar and to the clones who had been putting up a fight for long enough.

As they approached the shuttle, a figure that looked like Bane fell off a ramp after being shot by a trooper. Ahsoka and Anakin boarded the shuttle. Had he really fallen that easily?

"Trooper, did you get the Holocron?" Anakin asked, helping him up.

"No, sir."

"I'll get it, Master." Ahsoka offered, ready to jump off.

"No time. Rex, get us out of here."

Just as the shuttle left, the ship blew up. It had been a close one, for Ahsoka and for all of them. Anakin looked to her, glad she was by his side and not floating in space. He had to admit to himself that the fact that they had lost the Holocron bothered him, but he would not have traded it for Ahsoka. On the other hand, Bane's apparent death did not leave him satisfied. Not that he found pleasure in it, but it did not feel as if he was dead. Anakin was uneasy about it, someone like Bane did not go down that easy.

"Well, it looks like the Holocron was destroyed, but at least the Separatists didn't get it." Ahsoka said.

"Huh," he wasn't completely sure about that, "Bane's dead, but I can still feel him." He admitted.

The trip was short, admiral Wullf hadn't gone far, just enough to not blow up along with the separatist frigate.

"Master, I'm sorry I let that mercenary get the upper hand." Ahsoka softly said as they got off the shuttle.

Anakin looked at her, he could tell that she had been giving it just as much thought as he had, but that she was beating herself down for it. He felt for her, he had done the same so many times as a Padawan, and even sometimes as a Knight he ignored Obi-Wan's instructions to run for the battle, for the apparent win and failing to see the bigger picture.

"It wasn't your fault, Ahsoka. It was mine," he put one hand on her shoulder, "start to finish." He could see it had taken her by surprise, but it was the truth.

He gave her one last look, and walked away. If he had not let her go, if he had not let Ahsoka off his sight she wouldn't have been taken, and perhaps they would have the Holocron now.