For the Want of a Y Chromosome
Chapter 6
"I hope you're finally satisfied I'm not trying to kill you," Ani muttered as she successfully navigated their transport ship through the debris field. Rex nodded at her words but was too busy manning the guns and scanning for active ships to respond. Despite the rocky beginning to their working relationship an impressive partnership was developing between the General and her Commander.
"At least not without getting yourself killed too," Rex responded dryly once they were past the majority of the debris that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"What does it take to earn your trust?" she queried, turning around to shoot Rex an arrogant grin. He was about to respond but Hawk cut him off.
"We know you're not like General Krell Ani," he reassured her from the co-pilot seat.
She turned back toward him and genuinely smiled, happy for his words of support. She was afraid he would resent her for relegating him to the co-pilot position. Hawk was an amazing pilot, but she doubted someone who wasn't force sensitive would have been be able to navigate them through that scene. It looked like they had landed in the middle of a large space battle. One with no survivors she could detect.
She stood up then, stretching her legs and trying to shake off her uneasiness as she approached Rex who looked equally worried. Hawk ignored them and took the opportunity to reclaim the pilot's seat.
"Do you sense anything?" Rex asked her as she scanned the horizon. "Were those separatist ships?"
She shrugged. If the debris had once been ships they had been obliterated, and there was no way to tell whose side they had been on. "I don't sense anything," she responded uneasily. Though it wasn't entirely true. It was as if she sensed nothing, a large void in space.
"Excuse me," interjected Hawk from the pilot's seat, "I don't mean to interrupt, but the navigation systems are blank. They seem to be working, but they aren't picking up our location."
Ani looked at Hawk in alarm, their navigation system was supposed to include all of the known galaxy. She went over and tried hitting some buttons to bring it back online again but Hawk was right. Everything appeared to be working but their location was not registering. Then she looked down at the comm link on her arm. It was completely dead too.
"Just great," she mumbled, before reminding herself that she still had the force. She tried reaching out again but felt her heart sink as a boundless emptiness greeted her. She was about to give up in frustration when she felt something. Something on the edge of the emptiness. It pulled at her and she pushed back at it. The shock waves that rammed back at her through the force made her physically sway.
"What did you sense?" asked Rex in alarm, standing up quickly and rushing to her side, looking like he was prepared to catch her should she faint. She wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't.
"I…" she started, but she couldn't explain what she felt in words. The force beckoned to her again and she opened herself up to it, this time prepared for the intense rush that engulfed her. It was like her senses were singing and a strange desire overcame her.
"I have to go," she said simply as she opened her eyes. Both Rex and Hawk looked at her in alarm.
"What do you mean General?" Rex probed, "There's nowhere to go. We've lost all navigation and you can't mean to go out there on your own. It looks like multiple star destroyers simultaneously exploded."
She looked at them. "I can't explain it. But I have to follow my instincts. I'm going to take a shuttle and ….." she paused looking at the incredulous expressions on her troopers faces. And their fear. She could not tell if it was worry for her, for themselves or for their mission.
"I think it's an aberration in the force that caused this. And it's calling to me. I don't know what it wants, but I don't think we'll be allowed to leave until I go," she explained, wondering if what she was saying was the truth. It felt like it.
"And what should we do while you're out investigating this aberration?" asked Rex uneasily.
She took in a deep breath, wondering what would be best. She could order them to continue with their mission of infiltrating the separatists. But it was dangerous, and while she didn't doubt Rex's loyalty she could not guarantee everyone in the 501st was as loyal. However, sending them back to Coruscant with an incomplete mission and missing their Jedi would no doubt cause issues as well.
"Wait as long as it's safe to do so," she answered tentatively. "But if the navigation comes back online and I don't return within 48 hours I want you to return to Coruscant."
Neither Rex nor Hawk looked happy with those orders.
"And what do we tell the Jedi if we return without another General?" asked Rex, obviously anticipating the same issues she had.
"I will give you a holo-recording to present to the Jedi Council and Chancellor Palpatine," she declared, hoping it would be enough. She wondered fleetingly if she should make a holo-recording for Obi-Wan as well. Then she shrugged off the idea. What would she say? If she didn't make it back he would get the recording that the rest of the council received. He hadn't contacted her since her deployment and it was clear that she was nothing more to him now than another member of the Jedi order.
XOXOXOXO
Obi-Wan was tired.
He and his padawan had been dispatched from Coruscant a month ago to the inner rim. And while he knew that their missions were important to help ensure each planet felt protected as part of the Republic they were hardly the type of missions he longed for. He would much prefer to be tracking down General Grievous or Count Dooku. Doing something that would challenge his skills as a general. Something that would keep his thoughts from wandering.
But the council felt that Padawan Tano had been through enough with General Krell and that some time dealing with relatively minor issues would be beneficial. So instead of helping to win a war they were busy dispatching a handful of droids that had been sent to try and sabotage the factories in Riosa's manufacturing district. He got the distinct impression that his Padawan was about as impressed with these assignments as he was.
Obi-Wan watched Ahsoka's back as she worked quickly to dispatch the droids, but there was so little chance of them outgunning her and Cody that his thoughts drifted to his former padawan. Where was she now? Was she doing okay? She had to be, she was Ani - but something was making him feel uneasy. He wanted to comm her, to ask how her mission was going. But he knew she was possibly undercover with the separatists now, and besides, he needed to let her go. So he slipped his hand away from his comm for the thousandth time.
He re-focused his thoughts on Ahsoka. She still seemed to trust Cody more than himself. He understood it after her experiences but it still irritated him a bit. Though in all fairness it was Cody at her side now. Or at least he had been. Obi-Wan looked around to see where his Commander had gone, only to realize he was approaching him.
"General Kenobi, we have cleared the rest of the droids and are awaiting your next instructions," Cody declared, standing at attention, waiting for his General's orders.
Obi-Wan nodded. Ani wouldn't have waited for his command after clearing the droids, she would be rushing into the factories, checking for injured workers and chastising him to get over there to help her.
He did not realize he had voiced his thoughts out loud until Cody frowned at him. "With all due respect General, you are too hard on Commander Tano. I have heard that Jedi Krell was very exacting, and not tolerant of operating outside of official orders."
Obi-Wan nodded. He knew Cody was right. He was hard on Ahsoka – but he was a Jedi Master now and imagined that he ought to be strict and aloof. He didn't want to make the same mistakes he had made with Ani. He had been too lenient with her at times – questioning his right to teach the chosen one anything - and later his attachment had complicated things further. She turned out to be a very competent knight but sometimes he thought it was in spite of him instead of because of him.
"Clear the factory and ensure the workers aren't in any danger," he ordered. "But do so quickly, we are leaving for Coruscant before dusk," he nodded.
Cody nodded and quickly returned to Tano. He sighed, resolving to be a bit kinder when they got to Coruscant. Perhaps take her to Dex's to celebrate their successful missions before they received their new assignment. Windu had been reticent about the details, only implying that it had something to do with protecting the Chancellor. For once Obi-Wan found himself grateful that Ani was far from Coruscant. He had no doubt that Palpatine would have requested her to protect him had she been there.
XOXOXOXO
Ani wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep. But it was disturbing to know that she had drifted off while piloting her shuttle through unknown space. But she supposed it didn't matter, the will of the force had brought her here. She just didn't know where here was.
She pushed up the top of her shuttle and stepped out unto the lush planet. There was green everywhere, covering the mountains floating in the distance and surrounding the waterfalls cascading down around them. She could hear animals singing but couldn't see a single one. Her senses felt both sharpened and dulled.
"Welcome child," greeted a soft voice from behind her.
Ani turned around and looked at the woman behind her in shock. The woman's appearance brought to mind smugglers' tales of the angels of Iego and she wondered for a moment if that's where she was. But even her dulled senses knew it was not as simple as that.
"So powerful and yet but a child. The child who must find her balance before her fate becomes that of the galaxy. Will you be the creator? Or the destroyer?"
Ani frowned at the woman's words. She wanted to answer but she wasn't sure how. And despite the unsettling nature of her question Ani quickly felt a peacefulness overcome her. She followed behind the other woman, not questioning why. They walked for an immeasurable amount of time before Ani saw an elaborate structure far in the distance. But within a few steps the entryway stood directly in front of them.
"My father's monastery," the woman spoke, stopping so that Ani now stood beside her. "We must go in, for my brother will be looking for you."
Ani felt a shiver go through her at the woman's words, and yet there was something else too. A deep longing that she could not explain. The woman took her by the hand so they could walk into the monastery together, but before they crossed the threshold a man stepped out from behind one of the elaborate columns surrounding the entryway.
The man took advantage of their momentary shock and grabbed her other hand, preventing her from entering the building. She stared at him in awe. He was as attractive as the woman but in the opposite way. He was tall, dark featured and clothed all in black. Where the woman projected lightness and calm he projected darkness and passion. She found herself staring at him despite her better instincts.
"You're attracted to him aren't you?" the woman asked sadly, looking from Ani to the man.
The man smiled at the woman, but leaned towards her. "You are mine," he whispered in her ear, a possessiveness in his tone that sent goosebumps down her spine. He scared her. And yet part of her wanted to shake off the woman's hand and go with him.
"She will learn to control you and not the other way around," declared a third voice, finally pulling her attention away from the dark man. The voice belonged to a wise appearing older man who stood in the doorway of the building she had been about to enter.
"You are like us Ani Skwyalker," he declared looking at her and then at both the man and the woman standing on either side of her, still grasping her hands. "You are one of the force's children. But you are neither light like my daughter nor dark like my son. You are a balance between the two, a tipping point. And if you come within I will teach you how to maintain that balance."
A part of her had always known that this day was coming. The day when the force would come for her, and she would need to face the reality of a prophecy she spent her life trying to disregard. But she wasn't ready yet. She still had too much to do.
"I need to go home, I have a mission, there's a war, they need my help," she protested.
The father smiled benevolently at her. "The war within is the only one you need to win child."
She felt it keenly then. The daughter and the son pulling at her hands. The daughter towards her father's house. The son somewhere else. She tried to pull her arms free but they only clutched at her more tightly. She didn't want to go with either of them. She needed to go back to her men.
"I don't want to be the a tipping point," she protested, pushing out with all her strength, finally able to pull her arms free from the children and slowly back away from the monastery.
"If you cannot find balance I cannot let you go," said the father sternly, pulling her towards him easily where his children had failed. "The balance is stronger than either the dark or the light. The balance is love and hate, war and peace, creation and destruction. When you can find the light even at the darkest of times then you will be ready."
"Don't be scared Ani, we want to help you. Teach you," soothed the daughter, tentatively taking her hand again. Ani felt the peace wash over her once more.
But then the daughter let go and the brother grabbed her hand roughly. "They will never let you leave," he whispered to her. "They wish to control you. To keep you here forever. They will never let you return to the life you came from."
He grasped her by both hands then and pulled her body roughly up against his own. He smiled down at her and her heart raced. "I know this because my father keeps me here. But we could escape together Ani. We would be strong enough for anything together. No one could ever hurt you again and I would never leave you."
Ani felt herself attracted to him and his promises. But he reminded her of something else too, or maybe it was someone and a nagging uncomfortable feeling that she shouldn't ignore….. She pulled away from him suddenly and turned to the father.
"I want to go home," she repeating, knowing what she had to do, "But if I come with you now, can I go home when I'm done?"
The brother sneered at her question. She looked at him and he was suddenly ugly where he had been handsome a moment before. She could sense his ill intentions and tried to take a step away from him, but he was beside her before she could even move, pushing her so roughly that she fell unto the dirt where a moment before there had been lush grass.
"You want to go home? To be a weak pathetic being living a pitiful life?" he yelled at her from above. Then he leaned down towards her, his eyes sparkling with malevolence. She was scrambling to pull herself up but he grabbed her arms and forced her back unto the ground.
"I'll show you what that life has in store for you," he mocked as he held her down, carefully grasping her arms and kneeling on her thighs so she could not move. She tried to head bunt him but he dodged the blow and quickly grabbed her hair. Then he forcibly jerked her head towards his and brought her lips to his own.
With one arm free she tried desperately to push him away. But he was too strong when he was angry and she was angry too. And why weren't they helping her?
Then the images came.
And suddenly she wasn't kissing him anymore. She was kissing another. Another that she loved so much that it physically hurt her. She grasped him tighter then, afraid that he was going to go away again. But as soon as she grasped him tighter the image faded. And more came flying through her mind. Each more horrifying than the last. Until she was desperately trying to pull away from the brother and her swirling emotions. But she couldn't. He had her in his grasp and it seemed that there was no escape from him and this horrible future.
Leia, NO!
"No," Ani screamed out loud, finally pulling away from the brother. "No," she screamed louder, and he stumbled backwards from the force of her emotions.
"That's not my future," she protested trying to clear the images from her mind. They were all so jumbled, and there was so little that she could make sense of. But the woman she saw clearly. Leia her mind sang. But the beautiful face was pulled into a snarl, the hand holding a red saber. It sank into his heart before she could stop her.
"I can give you a better life than that," the brother promised, handsome once again as he held out his hand to her.
"No," Ani screamed at him. "That's not my future. I won't let it be. I won't let that happen to them."
The daughter pushed her brother away then, and took Ani's hand, pulling her out of the dirt. She walked with her towards the door of the monastery, the brother still stalking them.
"Go home Ani," said the father suddenly, pushing his children into the monastery and slamming the door shut. "Your love is stronger than your hate. That will be your balance. There is nothing more I could teach you."
"It won't happen will it?" she asked him, suddenly wishing to go inside, to find the peace they had been offering, to stop the memories rushing around inside her.
"I can't say Ani," replied the father from the doorway as it slowly closed behind him. "You will make your own future. And you may destroy things, but I have the confidence you will create as well."
And then the monastery was gone.
XOXOX0XO
"She came drifting back in a shuttle, unconscious like," explained Rex, his voice strained with worry. "She hasn't wakened since."
Ani slowly pulled her eyes open, the light blinding her as they adjusted. She saw Rex first, and was surprised to see Yoda sitting beside him. Then it slowly dawned on her that she was in the healing halls of the Jedi temple.
"What's going on?" she asked, looking between the two of them, no memory of how she had arrived on Coruscant. She remembered being in space, there had been some kind of fight. And then…. The force. The force had done something to her. But what?
"What do you remember?" asked Yoda, staring at her intently.
"I… I'm not sure," she replied. "I was with the 501st, we were trying to infiltrate the separatists and we came to the site of a big fight."
She tried to remember after that but it was so fuzzy. There had been something about Obi-Wan. He had been hurt somehow.
"Where's Obi-Wan?" she asked suddenly, looking around, hopeful that he would be there.
Yoda and Rex were surprisingly quiet at her question and she felt the fear rise in her chest.
"Where is he?" she demanded.
"He was shot Ani," Rex finally said softly, while Yoda only looked away.
End Chapter 6