Disclaimer – all original Star Wars characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Lucasfilm and Disney.
Chapter 54 "The New Apprentices - part 3"
Planet Christophsis, Chaleydonia – Capital of Christophsis, City Plaza.
Anakin and Ahsoka worked their way through the abandoned city towards the advancing edge of the shield. Anakin diverted into another tower and made for the twentieth floor, wanting to look at it from a good vantage point.
"So what's the plan?" Ahsoka asked. The young Togruta carried a backpack filled with explosives to destroy the shield generator.
Anakin scanned the city with his binoculars. The droid army was a lot farther forward now. "I thought you were the one with the plan," he scoffed, not taking his eyes off the battle droids.
"No, I'm the one with enthusiasm," Ahsoka replied. "You're the one with experience. You show, I learn."
He couldn't tell if she was sincerely naive or sarcastic. At least Rex seemed to have knocked the argument out of her. "Well, first, we need to get behind that shield, then get past their tank lines."
"What about trying to outflank them?" Ahsoka proposed. "Go around the lines."
"It'll take time we don't have," Anakin replied.
"Okay, shortest path then," Ahsoka suggested. "Through the middle."
Anakin tried hard to be patient, but the irritation spilled out despite that. "So you can pass yourself off as a droid, can you? Just stroll in, say 'Roger, Roger,' and hope they don't notice?"
"Okay," Ahsoka seemed resigned. "My first lesson is obviously to keep my mouth shut and wait for you to come up with an answer."
And then it came to him. It was just as well that it did. There was nothing less inspiring in an officer than telling a subordinate to shut up but having no better ideas himself. He wondered why it had taken him so long to think of it.
"You just have to turn the problem upside down," he said, lowering the binoculars. "If we can't cross their lines, we let their lines cross over us."
When the droid army got in range, the Republic began to fire at them with the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannons. The blasts hit the energy shield and simply spilled off it like white-hot liquid. Plasma diffused, vanishing a few seconds later as if it had never hit its target at all. Captain Rex lowered his binoculars. He knew the fight inside the shield was inevitable.
"That shield is certainly putting a crimp in my day," Obi-Wan declared, watching the lack of effect through his own binoculars.
"It's no use, sir!" Rex said, pointing out the obvious. "Even at full power, the cannons don't affect it."
"It was worth a try," Asajj said. "At least it makes us look convincing, like we're in trouble."
"Commander, we look convincing because we are in trouble," Rex clarified.
"Have we cracked their comm encryption yet?" Obi-Wan asked, lowering the binoculars and looking at Rex.
Rex eavesdropped on the voice traffic between the Separatist tank commanders and the battle droid officers. General Whorm Loathsom was being briefed on the clone retreat and seemed flushed with his success. He was ordering his armored column to press forward.
"General Loathsom gave the order to go for our cannons," Rex said. "The shield front will be at this point in around fifteen standard minutes."
Obi-Wan kept squeezing the hilt of his lightsaber as if he were doing a physio exercise. "Do you believe in nominative determinism, Rex?" asked the Jedi Master.
"If my name was Whorm Loathsom, I'd prefer not to, sir," Rex replied.
"I'm sure his mother loves him," Asajj commented.
"Now, let's keep our heads down until the shield passes over us," Obi-Wan instructed. "See how much damage we can do once the tanks are committed to a choke point."
There was a crude, easy way to stop an armored advance: knock out the lead and rear tanks, leaving the rest of the column trapped between and unable to maneuver or escape. Since the droid forces used the main street, the Jedi could destroy the leading tanks and stop their advance, leaving only the battle droids to deal with. They had air support, but they needed to play it smart and wait for the shield to come down.
As the Republic forces waited for the droid army, Anakin and Ahsoka were doing the same, but under a box in the middle of the main street. "This is a stupid plan," Ahsoka commented, feeling the ground shaking as the droid army advanced towards them. "We should fight these guys instead of sneaking around."
Anakin heard the faint hum of the energy shield coming closer; the air tingled with it, making the hairs stand up on his arms and nape. The enemy line was obligingly passing over them.
"Except for the fact that their shield just passed over us," Anakin replied, keeping still under the box as the droids walked past them. "Like I've said earlier, if we can't cross their lines, we let their lines cross over us." One B1 battle droid nicked the box with its foot but kept walking forward.
"If you say so," Ahsoka replied unsurely.
The two slowly and carefully moved forward as the droid forces were focused on the advance.
The red-colored shield reached the Republic forces. Clone troopers took cover behind large pieces of rumble together with the two Jedi. "We're inside the shield," pointed out Obi-Wan. "Just stay away from those tanks."
Both he and Asajj ignited their lightsaber and prepared for combat. The droids unleashed at the Republic, and the clones returned in kind. Obi-Wan and Asajj lunged forward. Just like they planned, the two Jedi zipped past the battle droids, deflecting their shoots, and headed towards the tanks.
With the use of the Force, Obi-Wan and Asajj lifted two vehicles, turning them upside down, and dropped them. That created a blockade and forced the rest of the tanks to stop. The battle droids had to continue without them.
Ahsoka and Anakin continued forward, hidden under the box. "I think we made it past all of them Master," Ahsoka stated. "We may pull this of yet."
"We still have a ways to go before the reach the generator station," Anakin pointed out.
"Do we still need this thing?" Ahsoka asked impatiently. "I can't take it anymore," she said, not waiting for an answer. "I have to stand up."
Anakin actually had no problems with that since he wanted to get up and stretch his legs as well. The two lifted the box but kept it over them as they continued forward.
"You have got to be carefull," Anakin warned. "You never know what you're going to run into."
Bang. They hit something. Anakin thought they might have run into a lump of masonry, but as the box tipped and they fell over, he found his field of vision full of a curve of jointed metal. It was a droideka. The droid activated its deflector shield and turned around to face them.
"See what I mean?" he asked, slightly abashed.
Droideka aimed and began to fire at Anakin and Ahsoka, who activated their lightsabers. They began to deflect the energy bolts while crawling away until they managed to get back to their feet.
"We can't beat its shield!" Ahsoka stated as another deflected bolt was absorbed by the droid's shield.
"Run!" Anakin ordered, knowing what to do in this situation.
"What?!" Ahsoka was perplexed. "Jedi don't run!"
"I said run!" Anakin ordered again, and Ahsoka complied, turning around and dashing away from the droid. Anakin deflected another energy bolt and followed her.
Since they were out of the droid's effective range, the droideka coiled up and started to pursue them, rolling after them like a ball. This was their chance. It couldn't fight and move at the same time.
"Ahsoka stop!" Anakin yelled.
"Make up your mind!" Ahsoka replied.
"I said stop!" Anakin repeated.
Ahsoka skidded to a halt, and the droid rolled between her and Anakin for one critical fraction of a second too long. They were both on it in a heartbeat before it could unroll and deploy, slashing it to pieces with their lightsabers.
A smooth, polished section of casing rolled to a standstill a couple of meters away. They stared at each other for a moment, breathless.
Anakin couldn't have taught her a better lesson if he'd planned this. "Good, you take direction well," he said and continued onward. Ahsoka sighed and followed her Master.
Planet Tatooine, Northern Dune Sea, Jabba's Palace.
With the Untouchable visible from the planet's surface, it was clear that no one would even try to look strangely at the two females who stood in front of Jabba. Even the Hutt would not be pleased with any hostility towards the members of the Kingdom since he was happy to hold his son alive and well thanks to them. When he spoke in Huttese, his droid translated his words. "The mighty Jabba is grateful for the rescue of his son."
"Is was a piece of cake," stated Aritia, making Zai'shira smile. "Indeed it was," confirmed the Togruta.
Jabba spoke again, and TC-70 translated. "Ziro the Hutt will be dealt by the Hutt clan for his scheme and treachery. The gracious Jabba asks how can he pay the Kingdom for their kindness."
"There's no need for rewards," Zai'shira replied. "Like I said earlier, I'm a parent as well so I understood your pain when Rota was kidnapped."
Jabba hummed and nodded.
"Now, if you excuse us, we have a war to win," Zai'shira said. She and Aritia nodded and turned around on their heels, leaving the throne room.
When the two females left Jabba's palace and crossed the gate, Aritia asked. "Why didn't you asked Jabba for help? We could use the Hutt's help in the war."
"He's grateful now, but like all Hutts, he would betray us in a flash when the situation would suit him," Zai'shira answered. "It's better to have allies we can trust."
Aritia thought for a moment. There was a question that bugged her. "How do you know I won't betray you?" she asked with a shrug. "How do you know I'm not a spy working for the Jedi Order?"
"Oh, we have our ways to know such things," Zai'shira replied and winked to the Firrerreo. "In time, you'll learn how. Now come on, we heading back to Shili."
"With pleasure," Aritia replied and smelled her hands. "I need to get that Huttlet's smell of myself."
Zai'shira chuckled in response. After a moment, she looked at the sky and thought about Ahsoka. Her daughter was a Padawan now, and Zai'shira really wanted to know what she was doing.
Planet Christophsis, Chaleydonia – Capital of Christophsis, Generator Site.
Anakin worked out the general direction of the generator from the graduating intensity of the field. The red glow was brighter the closer he got to the infrasonic hum that was making his throat and inner ear itch; it was just a matter of using his senses.
"There it is," Ahsoka said.
She pointed ahead. Across an expanse of open ground, a temporary building-the snap-assembly kind common on construction sites across the galaxy stood conspicuously new and unweathered. And as they edged closer, the energy field felt stronger.
"I do believe you're right," Anakin said. "I'd have thought they'd hide it, but maybe they're getting lazy or-hey, where are you going? Wait!"
Ahsoka broke into a loping run as if hunting down prey, head lowered. Then she stumbled, and Anakin could see why. All across the ground, small projections were just visible above the soil-antennae. "Oh, no!" Anakin thought. "She ran into a droid minefield!" That was all they needed. He'd hold the ugly record of getting his Padawan killed faster than any other Jedi, not even seeing out the first full day.
"Stand still!" he called. He couldn't even stop to worry now about who might see them. "Don't move. Stay right where you are... I'm coming... stand absolutely still."
But Ahsoka lost her balance. She fell back and landed right on top of one of the antennae. Anakin braced for an explosion. But nothing happened.
The next two seconds were long and silent and terrible. Anakin held his breath, but his relief was short-lived because he realized why there had been no catastrophic detonation. The ground shivered.
Nothing explosive, nothing dramatic for a few more seconds, just a kind of slow eruption, like massive seeds germinating in a hurry and breaking through the soil. Brown-colored shapes pushed up to the surface and shook off the dirt, dozens of them.
"Droids!" he called, recognizing the large heads of the LR-57 droids. Each of them was bipedal like its more common B1 and B2 battle droid counterparts, but they were taller and wider in size. Their legs were attached to a small pelvic mount that held their large heads. The front faces of the heads had between one and three photoreceptors. From the back of the cylindrical heads protruded two arms equipped with double laser cannons.
"Ahsoka, they're sentry droids!" Anakin stated, charging forward and slashing the droids with his lightsaber. "You've set off an alarm. Forget them-set the charges!"
Ahsoka moved towards the shield generator and started placing the charges, but she quickly turned around when one of the droids aimed at her. She drew her two lightsabers and sliced the head from one of the droids, Force-pushing it away. Unfortunately, the cylinder-shaped head hit the antennae of slumbering sentries and more popped up from the ground just as Anakin finished destroying the earlier ones. "Sorry!" Ahsoka apologized with a sheepish expression.
"Who's side are you on anyway?!" Anakin asked, annoyed.
"Setting the charges," Ahsoka muttered under her nose and slapped hemispherical magnetic charges on the generator's flat surfaces. She scaled the structure and laid charges on the roof. She had to get as much ordnance on that generator as possible, every last charge, because, as the clones often said, the formula for calculating a detonation was 'P' for plenty, to go for certain overkill, obliteration, rather than risk not taking out the target first time.
Master Kenobi, Asajj, Rex, and the troops wouldn't get a second chance if Ahsoka didn't get it right the first time.
Anakin batted away an LR-57 droid, kicked another one off its legs, and cut it in half as it fell. He had to buy Ahsoka more time. The Force was with him: the droids were pretty dim. They responded to his provocation rather than identifying Ahsoka, who had the demolition charges, as the priority threat. More of them erupted from the ground, massing around him and driving him back toward a single crumbling wall on the perimeter, the last remnant of a bombed building.
He was pressed against the wall now. Anyone who thought Jedi never got themselves in tight corners-well, he was human, Force abilities or not.
The young Togruta finished placing the charges and looked at Anakin, noticing that he was in danger. "Skyguy! Don't move!" Ahsoka instructed and extended her hands in his direction. Anakin realized and 'felt' what she was doing. She was Force-pulling the wall down on top of him.
"No! No!" Anakin exclaimed. He was plunged into a rumbling shadow. His instinct made him duck and cover his head, still clutching his lightsaber. A whump like an explosion hit him, and he couldn't breathe; he sucked in choking dust. Something hit him in the leg. Grit peppered his face. He spat and coughed, trying to gulp in clean air, but there wasn't any. The sun had vanished. He struggled in a gray, smothering fog.
Forget about killing his Padawan during the first day. He would be the first Jedi Knight killed by his own Padawan during the first day. That's the worse record ever. Easily worthy of a statue inside the Jedi Temple.
It took him a few moments to realize that the wall hadn't crushed him. He found himself squatting in a well of clear ground a little wider than his shoulders, surrounded by rubble and metal. A droid's arm was flailing, making a repetitive urr-urr-urr noise as its servos struggled. He spat and gasped. He felt as if he'd inhaled every scrap of pulverized permacrete on the planet.
Ahsoka exhaled, jumped down from the shield generator. and ran up to him. "Are you okay, Master?" she asked.
Anakin looked up to see an outline of a small figure with head-tails. His eyelashes were caked with dust. Something scratched his eyeball. He spat on his finger instinctively to wipe his eye clear but doing that just ground more debris into it.
But he wasn't dead. The kinetic force of the collapsing wall had effectively detonated a small bomb in his face, but he was alive. And the droids weren't.
"Ughh! You could have killed me!" Anakin said with an angry tone.
"No, I knew exactly what I was doing," Ahsoka replied. Her tone was faintly offended, and Anakin could hear it despite the ringing in his ears. "I'm a Togruta. With my monstrals, I knew the window gap would clear you... as long as you stood still, anyway." She peered down at him. He could see her better now. His eyes were running with tears from the irritating grit.
Anakin felt both angry and churlishly ungrateful at once. She saved his life. How could he protect her, protect anyone, if he needed a Padawan to rescue his skin?
"Did you get the charges set?!" Anakin asked with a frown.
"Yes," Ahsoka replied, narrowing her blue-colored eyes.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Anakin asked.
Without any words, Ahsoka pressed a button on the detonator, which was attached to her forearm. The charges went off, destroying the shield generator with a loud bang. After a short while, the sky changed color. It was smoke-smeared blue again, not red. They did it.
Asajj informed Anakin via comlink that they won. After the shield generator was destroyed, the Republic cannons, along with the gunships and AT-TEs, attacked the Separatist forces. Even the upgraded battle droids weren't enough to handle such combined firepower from many directions. General Whorm Loathsome was captured by Master Kenobi, and they won the battle.
Anakin spotted Republic reinforcements at the sky, which headed towards the city plaza. He lowered his gaze and turned his head to look at Ahsoka, who sat with a sad expression on a small piece of debris. The human approached her and sat down right next to her.
"You're reckless Ahsoka," he stated, staring at the ground. "I know for certain that if you return to the Jedi Temple and they assign you to a different Master, you're not gonna survive. You wouldn't even make it as Obi-Wan's Padawan."
Ahsoka closed her eyes, and he could feel her sadness. Anakin looked at her and added. "But you will make as mine."
The young Togruta opened her eyes and looked at Anakin. A hopeful smile appeared on her face, and Anakin smiled back. "Come one," he said, getting up. Ahsoka got up with vigor and grabbed her backpack.
Anakin waved her hand and a Republic gunship, with Rex on board, landed near to pick them up. "Good job General Skywalker," Rex spoke as Anakin and Ahsoka boarded the gunship, grabbing the handles. "You too kid," he added, looking at the young Togruta.
Ahsoka smiled widely and nodded.
A few moments later - Planet Christophsis, Chaleydonia – Capital of Christophsis, City Plaza.
The gunship landed near Obi-Wan and Asajj, who just finished a conversation with Master Yoda via holo. "Good job with the generator shield," said Master Kenobi when Anakin and Ahsoka disembarked the gunship.
"Although you took your time with it," Asajj teased.
"We wanted you to have some more fun," Anakin teased back.
"We won and that's what counts," Obi-Wan pointed out. "And you actually missed a nice opportunity to save Jabba's son and visit Tatooine."
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Doing something for a Hutt wasn't on his bucket list. Especially for Jabba.
"Jabba's son was kidnapped by the Separatists," Obi-Wan explained. "However, the Kingdom of the Force already rescued the Huttlet. We also learned that ArchKnight Deiven visited Coruscant a short while ago."
"Deiven was on Coruscant?" Ahsoka asked with a smile.
"Yes," the Jedi Master confirmed. "A few Jedi were close by and sensed him when he used the dark side. Apparently, he used his stealth ship to land on the planet unnoticed and visited Jabba's uncle, Ziro the Hutt. By the amount of bodies and destroyed droids, we know that he wasn't paying Ziro a friendly visit."
"Heh, good riddance," Anakin replied.
"Well, I'm sure you'll be disappointed, but he didn't kill Ziro," Obi-Wan stated. "Whatever business Deiven had with the Hutt, he can't just arrive on the planet and start a fight. We assume it could have something do to with the kidnapping, but regardless, the Kingdom can't do what please in the heart of the Republic. No to mention their actions costed the Republic an opportunity to gain the advantage against the Separatists."
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked.
"Chancellor Palpatine wanted to convince Jabba to give us safe access to the Hutt's trading routes so that the Republic can safely move its forces," Obi-Wan answered. "As you can imagine, since the ArchKnights saved his son instead, we lost that chance."
"We'll win the war one way or another," Anakin assured.
"I hope you're right," Obi-Wan replied. Asajj looked at Ahsoka, sensing her positive emotions, and asked. "Did you finally convinced Master Skywalker to train you as your Padawan?"
Anakin and Ahsoka looked at each other. "Yup!" Ahsoka replied. "I'm going to be the best Padawan ever!"
"Well since you have the best Jedi for a Master, I can't argue with you there," Anakin replied.
Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and smirked while Asajj chuckled and looked at the Jedi Master. "At least you'll have the best Jedi and the best Padawan as your backup, Master Kenobi," she said.
"Ohh, lucky me," Obi-Wan replied, arching his eyebrow with a pleasant smile. The three other Jedi chuckled.
Please R&R ;)