Synopsis: Anakin Skywalker receives a padawan in Ahsoka Tano.
A galaxy divided!
Striking swiftly after the Battle of Geonosis,
Count Dooku's droid army has seized
control of the major hyperspace lanes,
separating the Republic from the majority of its clone army.
With few clones available,
the Jedi generals cannot gain
a foothold in the Outer Rim,
as more and more planets choose
to join Dooku's Separatists.
While the Jedi are occupied fighting a war,
no one is left to keep the peace.
Chaos and crime spread
and the innocent become victims
in a lawless galaxy.
Crime lord Jabba the Hutt's son
has been kidnapped by a rival band of pirates.
Desperate to save his son,
Jabba puts out a call for help.
A call the Jedi are cautious to answer.
"I told you this trip was too easy, we never should have sent the ship back for supplies," my master lectured.
"It wasn't my idea to send the ship back!" Anakin replied.
"All right, men," I said, leaving them to bicker as I addressed the 212th. "We've got a second wave incoming."
"Rex, you and your men follow me," Anakin said, addressing the 501st Captain Rex before rushing off.
"Cody, battle positions!" Obi-Wan said to the other 212th commander, Cody.
"Up the front!" he yelled.
Hundreds of battle droids advanced on our position, bombs and blaster bullets coming from all directions. We ran up to a fallen building, me and Obi-Wan protecting the troops behind us with our lightsabers.
Obi-Wan turned to Cody and made a hand signal. I didn't have time to see what is was, because I was too busy deflecting blaster shots as I had been for the past two months of war.
"Skywalker should have attacked by now," a clone to our left said grumpily.
"Don't worry! He knows the plan!" my master replied.
"Will he follow it?" I asked critically. Before the war, me and Obi-Wan had rarely gone on any missions with Anakin. After two months of just that, I had begun to realize that Anakin either had a hearing issue or a problem with obeying orders.
"Possibly not," my master replied.
"Is that...?" a clone said from behind me.
I looked up to see none other than Anakin Skywalker jumping on droids and cutting them open. "General Skywalker?" I sighed. "Yup."
"Come on, then!" Obi-Wan yelled. Me, him and the clones charged.
We ran through the army, cutting down and shooting droids. They weren't the only ones with casualties, though, and multiple clones were shot down in the process.
Anakin landed beside me and Obi-Wan. "We're gonna need reinforcements," he informed us.
"We haven't been able to get through to the Admiral," my master replied.
The battle dragged on, until we eventually drew the droids to retreat.
"They're pulling back," Anakin stated.
I knew it wasn't permanent, but I smiled. Losses were going to stop, at least for the time being.
At the sound of engines, we turned around and saw a ship approaching. Reinforcements.
"Looks like help has arrived," Obi-Wan said happily.
The three of us made our way to where the ship was headed.
"Our cruiser must be back," Obi-Wan said.
"Which means we'll be able to get our reinforcements," Anakin added.
"Then our problems are over," I said happily. "Fresh troops, new supplies... and perhaps they brought you a padawan," I teased.
"Oh, ha ha," Anakin replied.
"Anakin, Vaessa has a point," Obi-Wan said.
"She does?" Anakin asked at the same time I asked "I do?"
"You should put in a request. You'd make a good teacher."
"No thanks."
"Anakin, teaching is a privilege. It's part of a Jedi's responsibility to help train the next generation."
"A padawan would just slow me down," he replied.
The gunship opened, and a togruta girl of about fourteen came out. She was wearing just about the most revealing outfit I had ever seen - a tube top, a hip-resting short skirt, white leggings, an knee length boots. Her skin was orange and her montrals were blue and white, like Shaak Ti, but her face markings were different. She had small white wings on her cheeks and diamond-shaped markings on her forehead that drew into her eye markings.
"A youngling?" Obi-Wan asked.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Anakin asked dismissively.
"I'm Ahsoka," she explained. "Master Yoda sent me. I was told to tell the three of you that you must get back to the Jedi Temple immediately. There's an emergency."
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in a bit of an emergency right here," Anakin replied.
"Yes, our communications have been a bit unreliable, but we've been calling for help," Obi-Wan stated.
"Master Yoda hadn't heard from you so he sent me to deliver the message," Ahsoka said uncertainly.
"Oh, great. They don't even know we're in trouble," Anakin said annoyedly.
"Maybe you can relay a signal through the cruiser that just dropped me off," Ahsoka suggested.
The generals exchanged looks, and went inside. Ahsoka looked at me.
"So, who're you?" she asked.
"Vaessa Orin," I replied. "I'm Master Kenobi's padawan."
"How old are you?" she asked again.
"Uhh... sixteen?" I replied, confused.
"How long have you been a padawan for?" she asked.
"Two standard years," I replied awkwardly.
"Oh, so you became a padawan when you were fourteen?"
"Uhh...yeah?"
"So I'm not too young."
"Too young for what?"
"For being a padawan," she replied happily.
"Who's your master?" I asked.
"Anakin Skywalker."
I looked at her, shocked. "Uh, what?"
"Master Yoda sent me here to become his padawan," Ahsoka explained.
"You sure you have the right person?" I asked.
"Yes. Master Yoda was very specific. I'm assigned to Anakin Skywalker, and he is to supervise my Jedi training."
I gaped at her. "You can't be. Anakin said -"
The two generals came out of the ship. "We've contacted Master Yoda, he'll be sending reinforcements soon," Anakin informed us.
"Anakin, Ahsoka says that she's..." I trailed off.
"I'm your new padawan," Ahsoka informed Anakin.
"What?" Anakin's reaction was what I expected it to be - horrified. "No, no, no. There must be some mistake. I don't want a padawan!"
"There's no mistake. I'm a padawan, and my master is Anakin Skywalker. That's you, right?"
"Yes, that's me..." he looked around annoyedly. "But that just doesn't make any sense!"
"We'll have to sort this out later," Obi-Wan interrupted. "It won't be long before those droids figure out a way around our cannons."
"I'll check on Rex at the lookout post," Anakin said, turning to leave.
"You'd better take her with you," Obi-Wan replied. Ahsoka smiled innocently at her master.
Anakin sighed and left, Ahsoka in tow.
I turned to my master. "Why do I get the feeling this was your idea?" I asked, smiling.
"Because it was, my young padawan," Obi-Wan replied.
"So you tricked him."
"I gave him a... nudge in the right direction. To teach is to learn, after all."
"Have you learnt anything from me?" I asked.
"Lots, Padawan. More than I learned from Anakin, at least."
I laughed.
…
We (me, Ahsoka, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Rex) looked at a holo-map of the area. "The shield generator is somewhere in this area," Obi-Wan said, gesturing. "They're slowly increasing the diameter, and keeping it just ahead of their troops."
"Heavy cannons are gonna be useless against that," Rex commented.
"As they get closer, I suppose we could try to draw them into the buildings," Obi-Wan said slowly. "That might level the playing field a bit."
"If that shield's gonna be such a problem, why don't we just take it out?" Ahsoka suggested.
I looked up. "Kid's got a point."
"Easier said than done," Rex said.
"Well, I, for one - ahem - agree with them," Anakin said. "Someone has to get to that shield generator and destroy it. That's the key."
"Right, then. Maybe you two can tiptoe through the enemy lines and solve this particular problem together," Obi-Wan suggested amusedly.
"Can do, Master Kenobi," Ahsoka said brightly.
"I'll decide what we do," Anakin corrected her.
"If Vaessa, Rex and I can engage them here, you two might have a chance to get through their lines undetected, here," Obi-Wan gestured to the map.
"They won't have much time," Rex stated. "The droids far outnumber us, so our ability to street fight is limited without the use of heavy cannons. They will march forward under the protection of their shield until they are right on top of our cannons, then they'll blow them away."
"We'll figure out a way," Ahsoka said confidently. "Come on, Master, let's go."
"If we survive this, Snips, you and I are gonna have a talk," Anakin grumbled, sauntering after her.
"They make quite a pair, don't they, sir?" Rex asked. "You think they have a chance?"
"They better," Obi-Wan replied, exchanging a knowing look with me. "If they can't turn off that shield generator before it reaches the heavy cannons, there'll be no escape for any of us."
…
"That shield is certainly putting a crimp in my day," Obi-Wan said, looking through his binoculars.
"It's no use, sir! Even at full power the cannon doesn't affect it," Rex stated.
"All right, Rex. It was worth a try. Vaessa, tell the men to fall back."
I turned around. This plan was honestly absurd, but I did as I was told.
Once we were well inside the shield, a sentient came out of one the tanks. "You must be the infarious General Kenobi. And his pawn, Commander Orin."
"We surrender," Obi-Wan stated.
A pair of droids came up and retrieved our lightsabers. God, I sure hoped Obi-Wan knew what he was doing.
"Now, Master Kenobi, order your troops to stand down," the sentient said.
My master picked up a group of rocks with the force and arranged them into a kind of table. "General, have a seat," he said politely.
"Have you gone mad?" the General asked, scratching his head.
"I've conceded the battle," Obi-Wan lied. "Now we simply have to negotiate the terms of surrender."
"Don't try any of your tricks, jedi," he ordered.
"Surely there's no reason we can't be civilized about this?" my master asked.
The general came out of his tank accompanied by a waiter droid. "'Tis a rare honour to be able to meet one's opponent face-to-face. You're a legend throughout the Inner Core."
The three of us sat down. "Thank you. The honour is all mine. I'm so glad you decided to surrender."
"Well, at some point, one must accept the reality of the situation." He cleared his throat. "Might we have some refreshments?"
The General nodded and turned to the waiter droid. "You! Bring us something liquid." Liquid? What did he mean? "And for the girl, too?" he eyed me in disgust.
"No thank you. She's underage," Obi-Wan replied. Ah. "Thank you. This shouldn't take long."
…
About half an hour later, we were still there, negotiating. The general was getting rather bored, and quite frankly, so was I.
"And, of course, once you've taken custody of my troops, arrangements will need to be made for their food and shelter," Obi-Wan droned. "Tell me, do you have enough supplies..."
The general knocked his cup off the table. "Enough of this! You are stalling!"
"Nonsense. General, there are numerous details to be discussed."
He turned the table over. "Seize them!"
Four droids came and picked us up by our arms. "Unless you call off your troops right now, I will have no choice but to destroy you."
"Truthfully, I was hoping your shield would be knocked out by now," Obi-Wan admitted.
There was a bang and we looked up - the shield was rapidly disappearing.
"Oh, well," Obi-Wan said, and we backflipped onto the droids behind us. Obi-Wan dealt with the droids while I got the General by his throat.
"Don't fire!" The general cried.
"Something appears to have happened to your shield, General," Obi-Wan commented.
"Blast him!" the General yelled.
Obi-Wan force-summoned our lightsabers from the droid and tossed mine to me, which I ignited and put to the general's throat, and began cutting down droids with his own.
Our cannons began raining down on the tanks. Obi-Wan opened his comlink to find a hologram of Admiral Yularen. "General Kenobi, if you can hear me, we're through the blockade. The Separatist armada is in retreat. Your reinforcements should be landing in a moment."
"Your timing is perfect, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan replied.
…
"Master Obi-Wan. Master Yoda. Vaessa," Anakin greeted, his padawan behind him.
"Trouble, you have, with your new Padawan, I hear," Yoda stated.
"I was explaining the situation to Master Yoda," Obi-Wan explained.
"Really?" Anakin asked, seemingly surprised.
"If you're not ready for a Padawan, then perhaps Yoda can..." I suggested.
"No, wait a minute," Anakin interrupted. "I admit Ahsoka is a little rough around the edges, But with a great deal of training, and patience, she might amount to something."
I smiled. So Obi-Wan's plan did work.
"Then go with you, she will, to the Teth system," Yoda ordered.
"Teth?" Anakin asked. "That's Wild Space. The droid army isn't even in that sector."
"Kidnapped, Jabba the Hutt's son has been," Yoda explained.
"You want me to rescue Jabba's son?" Anakin asked incredulously.
"Anakin, we'll need the Hutts' allegiance to give us an advantage over Dooku," Obi-Wan explained.
"Negotiate the treaty with Jabba, Obi-Wan and Vaessa will," Yoda stated. "Find the renegades that hold Jabba's son, your mission will be, Skywalker."
"Come on, Master, it doesn't sound that hard," Ahsoka said amusedly. "I'll find Rex and get the troops organized." And she ran off.
"Don't worry, Anakin," Obi-Wan teased. "Just teach her everything I taught you and she'll turn out fine."
"You know, something makes me think this was your idea from the start," Anakin replied, going after his padawan.
Obi-Wan smiled. "Let's just hope Anakin is ready for this responsibility," he said.
"Ready, he is, to teach an apprentice," Yoda replied. "To let go of his pupil, a greater challenge it will be. Master this, Skywalker must."
We watched Anakin and Ahsoka's gunship fly away. "If we've got to make a deal with Jabba the Hutt, we'd best be on our way," Obi-Wan replied.
"So, what do you think of Ahsoka?" my master asked me.
I thought about it. "She's a sort of mix between Daniyelle and Ryliane," I answered.
"Daniyelle's the girl who came in with you, correct?"
"Yup."
"And Ryliane's the girl who..."
"Shouted 'told you' when Anakin was telling me about his mission?" I laughed. "That's the one."
"Do you think Anakin and Ahsoka will make it?" he asked.
"They kinda have to," I answered. "This time, it's not just our skins that are at stake."
