Chapter 2 - Skies of Teth
DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD
Author's Note: Welp, here's the next chapter! :) I'm not sure if I'll be able to release chapter 3 on March 21st, so if I don't I'll release it the following week instead along with Brotherhood. :P
~ Amina Gila
Indigo trees cover the rugged mountainous surface of the planet. The forest floor below is brown tinged with purple, and the sky itself is lavender, covered with white swirly clouds. As the gunships descend to the surface, Anakin's comm beeps. It's Obi-Wan.
"All right, Anakin, here's the story," he reports, "Jabba has given us only one planetary rotation to get his son back home to Tatooine safe and sound."
"Won't take us that long, Master," Anakin assures him cheerfully.
"Well, take extreme care," he warns, "We have no idea who's holding Jabba's son. When I've finished negotiations with him, I will join you." The hologram flickers off as he disconnects the call.
Between the swirling clouds, Anakin can make out large structures looming. His destination is the tallest of the bunch, the one they're heading straight towards.
The ship suddenly jolts wildly as an explosion rips past. Another shot from the tower ahead strikes one of the nearby ships and it bursts into flames. More shots ring out, some striking other ships.
"We're taking heavy fire!" calls the clone flying the ship.
"Close the blast shields, Lieutenant! Get us under those guns!" Anakin orders.
"Yes, sir. Here we go." The doors to the gunship slide shut, plunging it into darkness, which is illuminated momentarily by a red light. With a final jolt, the ship lands on the ground moments later and the doors slide open.
Anakin pulls off his outer robe, letting it fall to the floor of the gunship as he jumps out, lightsaber igniting in his mechanical hand. He runs forwards heading for the wall, the clones right behind. The droids from atop the wall open fire on the group, and the Republic cannons start shooting back. One blast hits its mark, and the area explodes along with the nearby droids.
The group continues moving forwards, finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the wall to take cover from the constant firing. Another droid moves to the very edge, trying to spot them with macrobinoculars. Anakin yanks it down with the Force, beheading it as it hits the ground, before turning to the finally readied clones. They fire grappling hooks up the wall.
"Rex, follow me!" Anakin calls, Force-jumping several feet up and catching onto the one nearest to him.
"Yes sir! Working on it," he replies.
Anakin begins his assent in the lead, holding on with one hand and deflecting blaster bolts from the battle droids shooting down at them with his right hand. The walkers are beginning to ascend the wall at his right, shooting up at the droids on top. He cuts through a falling super battle droid which gets close to him.
A sudden explosion rings out at the front foot of one of the walkers, nearly dislodging it. The same moment, danger flares through the Force, drawing his attention to the group of four battle droids on speeders flying towards them. They're shooting at the walkers, trying to knock them down before they get too high up the cliff. No, he's not going to let that happen. Unbeknownst to the foolish battle droids, their speeders provide Anakin with the perfect opportunity to end the battle faster.
He lets go of the rope going up the side of the lavender cliff, letting himself fall until he's close enough to the first speeder. Anakin's lightsaber slices through the droid, and he jumps to the next as soon as it's in range until they're all destroyed. He kicks the fourth off its speeder, spinning around and taking the seat.
Anakin flies the speeder upwards towards the top of the wall, shooting down the droids that pose the biggest threats as he goes. As he shoots down more of the droids, it gives the clones still trying to ascend the wall an easier time. By the time he nears the top, the intensity of the firing is increasing since the droids have a much better shot at him now. A stray bolt hits the speeder, and he jumps into the middle of the platform as the speeder bursts into flames.
The droid circle around him. "Surrender, Jedi," orders one of the battle droids in a monotone.
Anakin's lightsaber reignites and he stands up, slashing it in half, whirling to face the others as they start shooting. He throws two battle droids over the wall, then yanks another onto his lightsaber only to shove it off, smashing into a couple others behind it. The remainder are down in seconds between deflecting a few blaster bolts and being cut in half.
Anakin looks up from the destroyed mechanisms lying about, at the clatter of three destroyer droids rolling towards him from the building's entrance. Oh, great. Those have nearly impenetrable shields. Positioning themselves, they aim to fire at him, only for a sudden explosion to ring out. The destroyers are instantly transformed into a pile of smoldering rubble.
He spins around. One of the tanks is right behind him, having just come over the edge.
"All clear, General," says Rex as he approaches.
"Nice work, Rex," Anakin complements, glancing around at the devastation, "Have some men look after the wounded."
There are too many droids from them to be renegades. Of that, Anakin is certain. There was an entire army awaiting him here. Dooku definitely has a hand in this, as he suspected from the start. Reaching into the Force, Anakin gets the sensation of something... No. Someone. A lingering darkness in the shadows, the same sense he'd gotten back on Christophsis.
Is Ahsoka here? It's not impossible. Her Force-presence is remaining strangely elusive when he tries reaching for it. She might have been here recently, but Anakin suspects it's that Dooku has given her some training on how to mask her presence. Regardless, he has to hurry and find Rotta and get out before she interferes.
Anakin turns and heads down the walkway between the towering columns towards the door. It slowly lifts open, revealing a long shadowy hallway. The clones turn on the lights on their helmets while he reaches out with the Force.
"I don't like this place. It gives me the creeps," Rex mutters from behind him.
Anakin doesn't sense immediate danger, but there is something. The sapphire blade hisses to life instinctively and the clone's lights focus on a protocol droid approaching the group.
"Who are you?" Anakin demands sharply, lightsaber pointed at it.
"Merely the humble caretaker, O mighty sir," says the droid, "You have liberated me from those dreadful battle bots. I am most thankful."
He pulls back the blade, turning it off. He senses the words aren't the full truth, but there's no immediate danger. "Where is the Hutt?" the Jedi demands.
"The battle bots kept their prisoners on the detention level. I must warn you it is very dangerous down there, my friend," it cautions. Maybe, for most. Not for him.
"Captain, I'll get the Hutt," Anakin tells Rex, "Stay here and keep your eyes open."
"Copy that, sir," he replies.
**w**
Ahsoka enters the mostly dark room in the higher levels of the tower, her quiet footsteps still managing a faint echo. She comes to a stop between the two lines of super battle droids, the few she didn't send out to intercept the Jedi, standing along the halls. The mission is well underway, going perfectly as planned. It's time for her to contact her master.
She dials his frequency into her commlink, and moments later the hologram appears. "They have taken the monastery, Master," Ahsoka reports, "Skywalker is here. He's on his way to rescue the Hutt."
"Well done, Ahsoka," Dooku responds. A faint smile makes its way onto her face at the praise. The times she hears it are far and few between. "All is going according to plan."
"I could attack them now, Master," Ahsoka suggests, "They're right inside here, and they wouldn't have a way to get out. I'd take them by surprise, and they'd be at a disadvantage. The longer I stay here, the more likely it will be for Skywalker to sense me."
"Patience," Dooku replies, "Collect the data I need. You will get your chance soon enough."
A soft sigh escapes her. She didn't expect him to agree, but still hoped he would. "As you wish, Master."
The hologram fades as a battle droid steps into the doorway behind Ahsoka. "Mistress, the Jedi has entered the dungeons." Good. Soon, he'll have Rotta, and they'll be able to get moving. Ahsoka does not like waiting around. She never has and never will. That's the only thing that has never changed as long as she can remember, even back when she was a child.
Ahsoka heads over to the window overlooking the platform where the clones are standing around, waiting for Skywalker to return with the huttlet. The protocol droid stands next to her, with its camera ready. Must he take so long? The droids down there weren't supposed to attack him, so where is he? Ahsoka suppresses the urge to pace back and forth lest she miss the window of opportunity. No need to make a mistake as foolish as that. Finally, the Jedi Knight walks into view holding Rotta, his droid rolling along behind him. The Jedi sets the Huttlet on the ground and places him in a backpack.
"Now," Ahsoka hisses. The protocol droid zooms in on them, taking a brief holo recording. Perfect. Next stage complete.
Or maybe this is not so good. The huttlet doesn't look very good. Ahsoka carefully reaches out with the Force, brushing his presence. He's very unhappy and scared. Actually, he might be sick too. Wonderful. Not. Another problem to add to the list. Dooku will not be happy if he dies before Ahsoka can get him... and she won't even begin to think about Sidious.
They back away from the window, and she hastily calls Dooku again. "My lord, I have the recording you requested."
"Transmit it at once," he commands, "Your new objective is to recover the Hutt."
"And deliver him to Jabba unharmed?" Ahsoka inquires. He better say yes. She doesn't think she could ever hurt him. He's too young and far too adorable to dream of harming. Sith aren't supposed to have emotions like that, but she can hardly help it. Sure, she has a lot of anger and hatred as Sith are supposed to, but it's not strong enough to make her want to hurt innocents. She has more restraint than a Sith should in that regard.
"Precisely," Dooku confirms, giving her a stern look, "Do not fail me." He disconnects the call.
Ahsoka heads back into the droid command center. Finally, it's time to commence the attack.
**w**
The droid ships slowly approach the monastery, vulture droids in front. They swoop down from the sky, open firing on the clones. As their ships land, Ahsoka opens the door to let out the long lines of battle droids and super battle droids. She hates this. Clones are still living beings, not droids, and they have a right to live. They have individualistic minds, even if they all look the same. They don't deserve to go down in a war no one understands, but she doesn't have a choice. This fight must be won. Maybe sometime, she should try creating a super-stun weapon that knocks out all living beings in the area. That would be very effective, though neither Dooku nor Sidious would be particularly impressed with the idea.
The clones start shooting back, and their tanks open fire in return as the droids march in through the entrance. The spider droids move forwards next, forcing the clones to retreat.
As the doors to the compound finally slam shut with Skywalker and the 501st inside, Ahsoka walks up to the droids and raises a hand, signaling them to stop shooting.
"Mistress, the Jedi have barricaded themselves inside the main vault," one reports.
"They've got nowhere to run," she retorts calmly. Now it's a matter of getting inside. It will be easy from then on. Not like Ahsoka needs to kill the Jedi, just outsmart him so she can get the Huttlet and escape. She's fought him. He's not nearly as skilled as her master, though certainly more than she is.
Two battle droids approach the control on the wall and start poking at it, attempting to find a way to open the door. "The red one?" asks the first.
"No."
"The blue one?"
"No, not that one!"
Ahsoka groans aloud, unable to stop herself. There is no time for this nonsense. Those droids take forever to figure anything out. They really should have been designed with more intelligence. She should have a talk with Dooku about it sometime. She activates her lightsaber, slashing through the controls, ignoring their yelps of surprise.
As the door begins to slide open again, Ahsoka steps inside first, igniting her lightsabers. The droids start firing from behind her with their familiar red blaster bolts, and the clones return with blue fire. Ahsoka rips the blaster away from one of them, throwing him into the wall. This will be like most of her fights. She doesn't want to kill them, but she'll do what she has to for the mission. She tries to knock out as many as possible, moving almost robotically forwards as she goes.
Once all the clones are down – most of them unconscious – Ahsoka turns to the droids. "Secure the entrance. I'll go after Skywalker."
"Roger, roger," it recites obediently.
"Seal the main gate and all portals. Let nothing escape this castle," she adds, turning away to the clones. One of them should be able to give her the information she needs to know, even if he won't give it willingly. One thing she's learned about clones is that they're surprisingly easy to mind trick.
"Yes, Mistress."
Danger ripples through the Force suddenly, and Ahsoka whirls around, igniting her lightsaber. One of the clones – she thinks it might be the captain – fires his blaster at the droid standing next to her. It falls to the floor as he fires again, this time at Ahsoka. She deflects the bolt, simultaneously ripping the blaster from his hands. "Where is Skywalker?" Ahsoka demands sharply, stalking towards him.
"I don't talk to Separatist scum," he snaps. How polite of him.
"You will contact Skywalker now," Ahsoka commands, throwing the weight of the Force into her words. It's the best way to get information from people, she's realized. The best way without hurting anyone.
He hesitates for a moment. "I will contact Skywalker now..." he slowly repeats in a monotone, before speaking into his comm. "Anakin, come in!" No answer.
"We've held the droids, sir. What is your location?" No response. This is useless, Ahsoka decides with a hint of annoyance. She'll have to find the Jedi on her own. Closing her eyes, she reaches out into the Force.
**w**
The door at the top of the stairs slides open, a small amount of light flooding the otherwise almost completely dark room. The familiar short, hooded figure stalks down the stairs followed by a group of clankers.
Anakin ignites his lightsaber, moving into position as she approaches. Artoo, with Rotta in the backpack having been attached to him, rolls backwards out of the way. Anakin had tired of carrying the huttlet himself, putting the backpack on his astromech instead.
"Master Skywalker, I've been looking forward to running into you again," she informs him cheerfully.
"So have I," he retorts, eyes narrowing. Artoo rolls to a nearby computer port, out of view of Ahsoka, plugging himself into the wall. For the second time in the past few days, the floor beneath him suddenly gives out, and he hits the ground far below. He pulls himself to his feet and looks up to where the assassin landed on her feet a short distance away with agility only a Togruta could have. Her ruby blade hisses to life, and she lunges for him.
Anakin parries her first blow with the same ease as before, dodging sideways when the droids start shooting at him. He raises a hand and Force-shoves her backwards, throwing her off balance long enough to jump over her head, cutting one of the super battle droids in half. He spins around, deflecting a few bolts and cutting down both regular battle droids.
But then Ahsoka is jumping at him again and he rolls aside, letting the ruby blade stab into the metal floor. Growling, she slashes towards him again, only to be intercepted with the sapphire lightsaber as Anakin leaps to his feet. He shoves her backwards, pointing the end of his blade towards her. "Surrender, and save yourself the humiliation," Anakin warns, smoothly stepping sideways so the droids can't shoot at him without hitting Ahsoka. Of course, they all temporarily hold their fire, letting him focus solely on the assassin.
Ahsoka lunges at him again, her blades moving in unison, but Anakin has her on the defensive in a matter of moments. She's fighting better, he notices, now that she can focus her attention completely on him, but she has a very, very long ways to go before being worthy to be deemed an actual threat. Not that she doesn't have the potential.
Ahsoka spins around to parry another blow, taking a step back. Her lightsabers cross as Anakin slashes down towards her again, blades clashing into a saber-lock. He Force-shoves her again, much stronger this time. She hits the ground near the wall, dropping one of her lightsabers. The droids start shooting again now that their superior is effectively out of the way, and Anakin deflects one bolt into one of them and stabs the other.
He turns around in search of the assassin, wondering why she hadn't jumped him yet, only to see her on the side of the room Artoo is, Force-jumping towards the top of the wall. Her jump falls just short of the top, and she stabs her lightsabers into it to keep from falling all the way back down. She does a flip midair, catching herself with her lightsabers again before jumping the rest of the way out of the pit.
Well, Anakin might normally be impressed, but right now, he's concerned she'll get Rotta before he can get out. Glancing around to make sure the rest of the droids have been defeated – they are – he gathers the Force to himself, jumping out of the pit.
As he lands on the edge, a furious whistle form Artoo draws his attention to the far side of the room. Ahsoka is striding towards him. Another Force-wave catches her, slamming her hard into the wall. She falls to the floor and doesn't move to get up immediately.
"Come on, Artoo," Anakin calls over his shoulder, hurrying for the doorway. They don't have a moment to waste. She could be up any moment now.
Thankfully, it doesn't take long for them to reach the landing platform Artoo had found in the floorplans of right before Ahsoka arrived. Darkness is slowly descending on the planet, the bright moon reflecting off the purple clouds. A space battle is starting to rage up above. Continuous fire is being exchanged between the clones' ships and vulture droids. Well, at least Obi-Wan is finally here. Anakin was starting to wonder if he'd run into trouble on the way.
He hastily dials the code into his comm. "Skywalker to Obi-Wan. Mark my position. I need a medical ship immediately. Do you copy?"
The sole response is static crackling form the other end. They're clearly being jammed. "This is just getting better and better," Anakin mutters. He has to get Rotta out before he dies or something. Not that he necessarily would, but the fever is only getting worse. Which leaves Anakin to turn to his second-best option, who is here on the ground and hopefully isn't being affected by the jamming.
"Come in, Rex. Do you copy? Rex?" There is no response from the other end, aside from the faint sounds of battle droids talking and shooting. "Do you copy?" Anakin calls again, "Captain Rex, respond."
"I read you, General," the clone replies, "We're pinned down in the courtyard."
"Do you need help?" he asks urgently. There is an explosion from the other side before the answer comes through.
"No, sir," Rex responds, above the sound of distant blaster fire, "We're fine. Most of us are still alive."
Anakin lets out a sigh of relief as the connection breaks. He was honestly expecting worse. Either Ahsoka really doesn't know how to fight, or she wasn't trying to kill them. He isn't sure which. Considering how she'd fought him, she could have killed all the clones if she tried, which means she must not have been, but that doesn't make sense. She's a Sith. Now that he thinks back to the feeling of her Force-presence, she is lighter than Dooku. Somewhere in the gray region, though more dark than light.
Maybe she's not too far lost in the Dark Side after all, Anakin wonders. If Ahsoka catches up with him out here – he's fairly certain she will – he'll try to look closer. It's impossible to turn someone back, he knows that, but he can't deny the light he senses there, and it's making him wonder if she's really too far gone, or if there's still a way to save her before she loses herself in the darkness.
It doesn't make sense for him to feel like this, considering she is a Sith assassin despite it all, but he's not going to leave her like this, not if he has a choice. Ahsoka does not belong as a Sith, even if she's close to Falling. Of that, Anakin is certain.
But right now, he has to focus on the problem at hand. Namely, trying to get Rotta to Tatooine, when he has no idea how to do that. He doesn't have a ship, but he's here on his own. A sudden noise behind Anakin catches his attention and he whirls around. Three destroyers are rolling towards him, and he starts reaching for his lightsaber, only for the door to slam shut in front of them.