Chapter 6
Present Day
Aurora's POV
As Anakin and I walked toward the shuttle, I felt an empty feeling within my stomach. Something didn't seem right by the way Rex called the both of us over. As we both walked onto the shuttle Rex pointed to something slimy on the wall. Anakin tilted his head to the side as he walked over to the wall and touched the slimy substance.
"It's blood sir." Rex explained. "And it sure isn't from any of our men."
"That's not human blood." I said with a fearful sigh.
"YOU'RE NO CLONE!" I heard Ahsoka scream and both Anakin and I rushed out of the shuttle.
We looked to our left and saw Ahsoka standing in front of Bane who was disguised as a Clone trooper.
"Ahsoka!" Anakin and I called out to her, but it was too late.
She got kicked in the chest by Bane before he took off leaving her injured and on the ground. While Anakin continued to run across the hangar after Bane, I ran up to Ahsoka and helped her up.
"Are you alright?" I asked with concern.
"Yeah, I just got the wind knocked out of me." She explained before we started running down the length of the hanger as Bane had stolen another shuttle and was going after the hyperspace rings.
"Admiral, lock down the hyperspace rings!" Anakin ordered. "Hurry!"
"What could possibly have happened since I last spoke with you?" Yularen questioned.
"It's Bane." I interjected. "Lock those rings now."
But it was too late. Bane had gotten to one of the rings that wasn't locked down and had already jumped to hyperspace. I sighed in defeat.
"Great…he has the holocron." I said with annoyance. "Now we have to go after that bastard again."
"We'll have to inform the Council." Anakin said with a sigh.
Ahsoka and I glanced at each other, and we both sighed as we followed Anakin up to the bridge. I sat down in one of the chairs seated by the holotable as I heard Anakin instruct Yularen to set the ship's coordinates for Coruscant. Sure, enough the next thing I knew, we were in hyperspace heading back to Coruscant.
"Hey, you're bleeding…let's get you to the infirmary." Ahsoka suggested.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine…it was from being trapped under the debris."
She crossed her arms. "It's been over an hour, and you are still bleeding…come on, it won't hurt."
She was right, I was feeling a little unstable due to the amount of blood I lost, and I could use the medication to deal with the pain…even though it was just a burning sensation right now. With Ahsoka's help, I slowly stood up, and the two of us walked to the infirmary together. The medical droid sat me down on one of the beds and began inspecting my forehead.
"The cut isn't too deep." The droid said. "If you spent a few hours in a bacta-tank it could heal rather quickly, however we don't have one on board."
"What do you have that's quick?" I asked. "I'll take whatever you have."
"Understood Your Highness." The droid said with a nod which made me roll my eyes as it left to get the supplies.
"You really hate being called Your Highness…don't you?" Ahsoka questioned.
I sighed. "I've been called Your Highness my whole life…it gets old after a while."
"What does your family call you?"
I smiled. "My mother always calls me Aurora, it's never changed, and she's always called me that. Everyone else calls me Ro."
Before she could reply the medical droid came back in and began to clean the cut on my forehead. Once I was taken care of...to some extent…word came over the Resolute's intercom that we had arrived over Coruscant. Ahsoka and I walked from the infirmary back to the hanger where Anakin, Artoo, Rex, Ahsoka, and myself were all escorted onto a Republic Gunship, and flown down to the surface.
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.
"Back to the temple…I need to speak with the council." Anakin explained.
I smiled and began tapping the communication device I had on my wrist that signaled R4 to come and find me, since I left her on Coruscant with my ship while I was off galivanting around the Outer-Rim. As soon as we landed, the doors opened and waiting for us on the landing pad was Obi-Wan.
"Good, you're all here." He began. "Anakin the Council is waiting for you."
Anakin nodded and gestured to Ahsoka to come along with him. I, of course could not go to their stupid council meeting as 1, I am not a Jedi, and 2, they still have me as a war-criminal.
"Come on Artoo, we have to wait for Geenine to get here." I said with a small smile and Artoo beeped in response as we both walked towards another landing pad.
It was about 20 minutes before my star-fighter came into view, and just as it landed, I saw my bronze and white Astromech, R4-G9 piloting it.
As soon as she saw me, she blasted out of her Astromech pod, and landed right in front of Artoo and I. She began beeping furiously at me, and from what she was saying…she wasn't too happy with me at this moment in time.
"Okay, I get it." I said with a small laugh. "I'll never abandon you like that again…no I did not replace you!"
Artoo beeped at Geenine, before Geenine pushed Artoo. Artoo then pushed Geenine back, and so on before I got in the middle between the two droids.
"Hey!" I said with frustration. "Both of you, stop it! Artoo this is my Astromech droid that I was telling you about, R4-G9. Geenine, this is Skywalker's Astromech droid, R2-D2."
Geenine beeped at me in annoyance.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know Shiny, join the club…I want to go home too."
Geenine beeped again in annoyance, which Artoo mimicked…I'm guessing the two of them didn't like each other that much…which wasn't surprising based on them pushing each other, but for the time being they'd have to get along.
"Look," I began. "I know you guys aren't the biggest fans of each other, but for the time being you're going to have to get along."
Geenine moaned in response, and I put my left hand on her bronze dome.
"Yeah…I totally feel your pain…I don't want to be here either." I said with a sigh.
"There you are!" Ahsoka said running out of one of the corridors and onto the landing pad. "I've been looking everywhere for you. We're going out soon and you're coming with us."
I tilted my head to the side. "Where?"
"Naboo…apparently because Bane has the list of force-sensitive children due to the holocron, Master Skywalker sensed that one of the children will be abducted from Naboo." She explained.
I rolled my eyes. "What am I going to do? I am going to be a walking target…and without my helmet I'm kind of useless."
She frowned. "Yeah, that's going to be an issue."
Geenine moaned in response.
Ahsoka smiled. "Is this your Astromech?"
I smiled and looked back down at Geenine. "Yeah, she is, Geenine meet Ahsoka, Ahsoka meet R4-G9."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Ahsoka said warmly. "She's very pretty...I've never seen a bronze Astromech before."
"Yeah, she's been with me through a lot." I explained.
Ahsoka frowned again. "Where did you get a Jedi Starfighter?"
I glanced over my left shoulder to look at my blue and white starfighter before looking back to Ahsoka with a small smirk. "You really don't want to know."
She nodded. "You're right, I don't, but you can inform me later. Right now, we better get going."
Ahsoka, the two droids, and I all walked from one of the landing pads and down another corridor. Similar to what occurred the last time the two of us were in the temple we were yet again met by another Republic Gunship, which we boarded and were transported once again back to the Resolute.
Once we landed, we stepped out and into the hanger and were met by Anakin and Rex.
"We have a problem." I said with slight annoyance.
"What now?" Anakin said in the same tone.
"My helmet was destroyed…I can't step foot onto Naboo especially in Theed without anyone recognizing me…I'm going to be useless." I explained.
"She has a point, Master." Ahsoka said in agreement and Anakin frowned at both of our responses.
"When did you get another one?" Rex asked glancing back from Geenine back to Anakin.
"That's not mine." Anakin explained.
"She's mine, and she goes with me everywhere. She's very reliable and trustworthy. It pained me to leave her back on Coruscant with my ship…she gets rather lonely at times." I explained. "And to make your life easier, Geenine and I will stay here while you guys go find Bane and the child…as long as I get my chance at killing him."
"You're not going to kill him." Anakin instructed. "One child has already been taken and we don't know where…he is our only chance at finding who and what are behind this."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, until then, I'll be on the bridge."
I looked to Geenine. "C'mon Shiny, let's go bother the Admiral."
Both Geenine and I then walked out of the hanger as I felt the ship jump to light-speed. Since Naboo wasn't that far away from Coruscant it wasn't that long of a trip. What took a long time was capturing Bane along with recovering the child. It felt like I spent hours on the bridge doing practically nothing but learning about how the star destroyer worked before Rex came in with word that Anakin and Ahsoka had returned (the child was alive and unharmed, but Bane was in our custody), and we now were meeting at a rendezvous point with Obi-Wan and another Jedi.
Eventually, within the next couple of hours, we were at a Republic rendezvous location within deep space along with a few other Republic Star Destroyers. During this time, I felt completely useless due to my stupid helmet being destroyed. Beskar is supposed to be practically indestructible…but I guess not. I can't wait for this stupid job to be over.
"Your Highness?" Yularen said calmly as he walked over to my spot where I was seated on the bridge.
I looked up from the holotable. "Yes, Admiral."
"General Skywalker is requesting your presence in the brig." He explained.
I nodded. "Tell him I'll be there in a few minutes…while I'm gone, look after my droid."
The admiral frowned as he looked to Geenine who just moaned in annoyance in response. He then nodded. "Of course, your highness."
I smiled. "Thank you."
I then got up from my chair and began to walk towards the brig. Maybe he was letting me finally be the enforcer to torture Bane for what he did to Ahsoka…or he was finally going to let me kill Bane, after he got what he wanted. As I walked down the hallway that led towards the brig, I noticed two Jedi interrogating Bane. One of them was Obi-Wan, the other I didn't recognize, I went unnoticed at first, but upon Obi-Wan glancing slightly towards the cell door and noticing my presence, he stopped speaking to Bane, and he and the other Jedi walked out of the cell and closed the holographic door.
"Your Highness." The other Jedi began as he began to bow.
"You've got to be kidding me?" I said as I rolled my eyes. "Please don't bow or call me Your Highness."
"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mace Windu, and I'm sorry for any offense towards you or your culture." He explained.
I smiled. "Don't worry about it, I've been getting it my whole life." I turned to Obi-Wan. "So, did you get anything out of Bane?"
Obi-Wan frowned. "Hardly, he won't speak on anything regarding the holocron."
"With all due respect, you both suck at interrogating." I said as I crossed my arms.
"This is the Mandalorian who was also after the holocron?" Windu questioned in disbelief.
I frowned. "I'm sorry, were you looking for someone else? Were you looking for someone who looked like they crawled out of a sewer…though given my current injury, I can't say that I don't look like that now."
"Anakin informed me on what happened." Obi-Wan said with a concerned look. "Are you sure you're alright?"
I rolled my eyes. "Nothing a few hours in a Bacta-tank won't fix, but as for right now, I am perfectly fine."
Just then, Anakin and Ahsoka came walking down the corridor that I came down a few moments before.
"About time you got here." I said with a smirk.
Anakin rolled his eyes but ignored my comment and turned towards the other two Jedi.
"We tore the ship apart." He explained. "There's no sign of the holocron or the kids."
"Did you check the ship's navigation records?" Windu asked.
"They were wiped clean before he landed on Naboo." Ahsoka sighed.
Anakin frowned. "We'll have to use the force to make him talk."
"I don't think Bane is that weak." Obi-Wan countered.
"Maybe if we all concentrated on his mind together?" Ahsoka questioned.
Obi-Wan sighed. "Using the force to compel a strong mind to cooperate is risky.
Windu nodded. "There is a danger that his mind could be destroyed in the process.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, do we have a better choice?"
They all looked to me. "With all due respect, you should be happy I'm practically subdued at the moment, because if it were up to me, I think he should be dead by now."
They all glanced at each other and nodded realizing that I was right, they decided to go forward with their idea.
Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Windu all stood in front of Bane, and began to hypnotize the man.
"You will take us to the holocron." Anakin began.
Bane smirked. "Jedi mind tricks don't work on me."
"You will take us to the holocron." Anakin and Obi-Wan said together.
"Forget it." Bane said in annoyance.
"You will take us to the holocron." All three men said at the same time.
"I won't." Bane said weakly.
I glanced at Ahsoka, and she glanced at me…the plan was working…Bane was finally starting to crack.
"And you will take us…" Anakin began. "Now!" All three men shouted together.
Bane began to breath heavy. "I will take you…NO…get out of my head."
Bane began to breathe out in pain, Ahsoka's eyes widened in horror, and I started to smile…Bane was finally getting some form of torture and feeling pain…it was beautiful. Once they let go of the force, Bane leaned forward and began to hyperventilate.
"Perhaps you should try again." I said with a smirk on my face.
"I agree." Anakin said in a devious tone. "Perhaps we should try…again."
Bane shook his head. "I've had enough of that." He said breathlessly. "I'll take you to the holocron. You'll get your children back."
And that was all we needed to hear. Within the next half hour, Bane was being moved onto a shuttle, along with some members of the 212th to ensure security. All of us were watching Bane be loaded onto the shuttle in the hangar.
"The Chancellor wants a report on our progress." Windu explained.
"Tell him this is not Republic business. It's an internal Jedi affair." Obi-Wan explained.
"He has recently received word that a Mandalorian is working with us." Windu said and I rolled my eyes.
"Glad to know I'm famous." I said with a pleased tone.
"I still would not report to him." Obi-Wan continued.
"I'm sorry to disagree." Anakin began. "But, as long as the Jedi are acting as a military, we should report to the chancellor. Even on internal matters such as this."
Obi-Wan smiled and put an arm around Anakin's shoulders. "Well then, I guess you just volunteered to go. Give the chancellor my regards."
"Wait a minute." Anakin said in confusion.
"I agree." Windu nodded. "Report back here when you are finished."
As they began to walk towards the shuttle Anakin called out to them:
"This could be a trap, Master. You sure you don't need all of us to go?"
"Of course, it's a trap, Skywalker." Windu explained.
"I will contact you when we find the children." Obi-Wan said in agreement as they continued walking toward the shuttle.
"What if they don't find those kids?" Ahsoka questioned.
"They will Snips." Anakin said calmly. "Come on, we'll take the Twilight to Coruscant."
"Mind if I tag along?" I questioned as Geenine began rolling up to me. I glanced down to her. "Were you good for Yularen?"
She beeped in response, and I laughed. "I'm glad you stayed out of trouble.
"The more the merrier." Ahsoka said and I smiled.
"She can come, but I'm flying." Anakin said as he started walking toward the ship.
I rolled my eyes and followed him toward the ship.
"Fine, but I call shotgun." I said with a smirk.
"Deal." He said with an eyeroll.
I have to admit, so far, even though I'm not a big fan of the Jedi or the military, these people were not too bad at all. I actually kind of liked them…which for me is a big leap of faith.
