Anakin and Obi-Wan's cruiser jumped out of hyperspace as soon as it had jumped in. The scene before them was a nightmare.

The two Republic cruisers with Windu were cornered by three Separatist cruisers, just like Obi-Wan had said. Vulture droids and starfighters were already flying around the cruisers, and as soon as Anakin tried to focus on the fight, he felt the Inquisitor somewhere in a fighter.

"She's already here," commented Obi-Wan. "We definitely lost the advantage."

"She's already cornered Windu," Anakin added, turning on his heel and making for the hangars. "If we want to get him out, we have to take out those cruisers. Get to the fighters!" He commanded, and his men scrambled into their battle positions.

He met up with R2-D2 and together they loaded into Anakin's yellow starfighter. Anakin powered up the engine and ran the checks, but he couldn't leave until the hangar door opened. He looked around at his troops, following his lead, when he noticed the empty space next to him.

Anakin sighed, and looked down at the controls. He knew the troopers, especially Rex and a few others, missed her almost as much as he did. When she didn't come back, no one talked about it, but somehow he knew anyways. Their sorrow was one of the reasons he tried to shield them from his frustration.

No one had pointed it out, but the spot for Ahsoka's burgundy fighter had been left alone. Anakin suspected Rex was responsible for the vacancy, but he loved it, just as much as he hated that it was necessary. Her fighter, which was actually still in the cruiser, had been put away and reserved for 'emergency scenarios'. That, Anakin figured, was code for 'don't touch it', but he had taken a look at it a few months ago. It had been kept in pristine condition, other than the orange and blue spray paint. When examined more closely, Anakin had realized that they had left messages, goodbyes that hadn't been able to be given.

The hangar doors opened, and the sound of the all-clear snapped Anakin out of the past. He fired up the engines and took off. "All right," he spoke into the coma that linked him to the other fighters. "I want the bombers targeting the Separatist hangars. Everyone else, pick off the droids."

A chorus of affirmations rang through the cockpit. He took off and watched as his troops speed off in front of him. He waited until he was clear, then turned away and focused on the Inquisitor. He was the bait, so she was his responsibility. Obi-Wan could look after the others.

Her ship wasn't hard to pick out: It was the only Separatist ship that wasn't a droid. The Sister had shed part of her ship, losing the hyperdrive and the quarters that were normally attached. Now it was just the cockpit and a sleek engine.

It was much faster than the droids, too. Anakin was going to deplete his fuel reserves if he wasn't careful. He spotted her ship near the rear of one of their cruisers, and he started towards her.

"Alright, Artoo," He said, activated the weapons system. "You ready?"

He beeped back excitedly. Anakin knew he loved flying just as much as he did. The R2 unit activated his own weapons and locked on the Sister's ship. Anakin noticed and he called out to him.

"Careful, buddy," He said. Artoo responded inquisitively. "Why? Aren't we trying to hit the ship?"

Anakin didn't respond. Yes, he wanted to stop the Inquisitor, but he didn't want to kill her. Just in case. Just in case.

"Just try not to aim for the kill, buddy," he said finally, punching the thrusters. Time to go to work.

He advanced on the Inquisitor's ship. The Sister, who had been expecting the Jedi since the third cruiser had come, smiled. If the Jedi wanted to bait her into a fight, then they were going to get a fight. Her type of fight.

She sped off in the opposite direction of the ruckus caused by the trap. There was no need to keep Skywalker close to the action if she didn't have to.

He was playing to his usual game-plan. Skywalker was reckless and strayed away from the recommended tactics, but he still had a system. Grievous or Kelani fell for his tricks almost every time, but the Sister knew better. She knew how he worked and she wasn't afraid to use it against him.

She wove between pieces of floating debris, making him follow her. There was too much around them for him to try and anticipate where she would go, so he couldn't corner her or pass her. She had control of their fight.

Anakin became frustrated with this fact. The Inquisitor definitely knew how to fly.

Of course, she does. Why wouldn't she?

Shut up! He didn't have time to worry about this. He had to focus on flying.

He kept trying to shoot her, but she was Force-sensitive, as he knew, and she knew how to dodge his fire. Anakin focused his eyes in front of him, then saw that they were flying back towards the thick of the fight.

Obi-Wan's voice filled Anakin's cockpit. "Anakin, how goes it from down there?"

"It's all right," he told his master. "I have an idea, it might put the Sister in her place."

"Try to hurry, Skywalker," Master Windu's voice broke through the line. "Our cruisers have taken heavy fire. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"I understand, Master," he told him, and he broke off from the Sister's trail. He passed her on her left and headed towards a cluster of ships that had been shot down. Anakin looked over his shoulder and saw the Inquisitor following him. That was all he needed.

He looked ahead and saw the narrow path he was searching for. As he increased his speed, he remembered, how a few years ago, he had taken some training time to teach Ahsoka how to fly.

"So what's the point of all this?" Ahsoka complained. "I was taught how to fly, you know."

"No, Snips," corrected Anakin. "You were taught how to pilot. Flying is an art form."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Skyguy." She hopped in her starfighter as Anakin jumped into his. "I didn't know Anakin Skywalker was an expert in flying."

"I've got a few years on me," he gloated with a grin. "Just watch and learn, Padawan."

The two activated their engines and sped out to open space. Anakin smiled. It wasn't often he got to take out a fighter without a fight. There was no enemy, no chase, just Anakin and Ahsoka. And Artoo, of course, and whatever droid Ahsoka was using.

"If you want to lead a squadron one day," he began, "I need to know that you can fly without killing yourself. See those canyons down there?" He couldn't point to them as they were in different fighters, but he saw Ahsoka leaning forward in the other ship.

"Yeah, I see 'em. So what?"

"I want you to fly through those, as fast as you feel comfortable. I'll follow you from above."

"THROUGH the canyons?" She exclaimed. "But the academy told us-"

"I know what the academy says," interrupted Anakin. "and that's why we're doing this. It's time to take that recklessness you have on your feet and put it in the cockpit. No great flyer ever listened to the rules, Snips."

"I can tell, Master," she grumbled, but she adjusted her course and made her way down to the rock formations. Anakin tagged along not too far behind, but far enough that he could react in time if something went wrong.

Ahsoka flew through the canyons at about 50% power, maybe a little less. Not bad, thought Anakin. At least she's willing to try.

She managed to avoid hitting the edge of the fighter on the rock and pulled up out of the canyon. Anakin looked a little bit ahead of her and saw a tunnel that led to the end of the canyon.

"How was that, oh Master?" She asked, with a hint of pride in her voice. Ahsoka didn't say so, but she had used 15% more power than the academy had said would be safe to use. She thought that was impressive and was enough to please her master.

He wasn't disappointed, but all the same, he responded, "Not bad, for your first time. Build up some confidence, and you'll be on your way."

"How fast do you want me to go?" She asked, frustrated.

"As fast as you can, Snips," he said, with a laugh in his response. "Another question, why didn't you go through the tunnel?"

"I couldn't make it," she snapped defensively. "It was too small. Let me guess, you could do it."

"Watch and learn, Padawan," he said, and he turned to enter the canyon himself.

"There's no way. Not even you could make that."

In spite of his Padawan's doubts, he leveled out and studied the canyon in front of him. He boosted the speed to 80% power and shot towards the entrance.

"Show off!" called Ahsoka, but Anakin didn't respond. He needed to focus.

He wove through the rock formations, using the Force to see what was ahead of him. He anticipated every turn, avoided every obstacle. There was nothing that this canyon could throw at him that he couldn't handle, and before long, the tunnel came racing towards him.

"You're not actually gonna do it, are you?" Ahsoka's voice, somewhat stunned, came through, but Anakin didn't slow down or change course. He sped straight towards the opening and began to smile. Ahsoka was going to lose her mind when she saw this.

"Master!" She yelled through the coms, afraid. Half a second later, he disappeared into the rock.

Ahsoka held her breath, fearful that she had just lost her master only a month after him accepting her. She didn't want another master, she had finally started to get used to Anakin! No one else would understand her recklessness as he did. Her heart began pounding and she was about to alert the cruiser that they needed medical backup when his yellow fighter came flying out of the end of the tunnel.

He had made it!

"No way!" She shouted, relieved. "How did you do that?"

"A lot of practice," came the reply, and Ahsoka rolled her eyes. Of course, practice, practice, practice. She had heard the speech before.

"Don't worry, Snips, soon I'll teach you how, too. We need to head back to the cruiser, though. Rex just got a message, and we have a mission."

Anakin stared ahead, dodging the Inquisitor's fire while getting ready to enter the narrow passage through the debris ahead of him. It was just like that canyon. It was too small for the academy to approve of flying through, but Anakin could make it no sweat, and Ahsoka could too.

If it was Ahsoka, she could make it through, and she would follow him in. Once inside, she would have a clear shot at his ship. If she took it, then he was wrong and was about to pay for it. If he was right, then she wouldn't shoot, and the Sister really was Ahsoka.

The ship followed Anakin for as long as he could afford to look backward, then he instructed Artoo to keep an eye on her. "Just watch her for me, buddy!"

He spiraled into the tunnel and wove his way around various ship parts and pieces. A few seconds later, R2-D2 beeped at him. She had broken off of his trail.

She wasn't Ahsoka. He was back to square one.

He exited the tunnels and made to turn back to the fight. He had no reserves about killing her now, or at least trying to. He started to look for her when his ship shook and the console began beeping at him.

Artoo squealed, and Anakin looked to the wing that was smoking. It was completely destroyed, and Anakin couldn't fly without it. The fuel tank was damaged, but it hadn't exploded which meant that Anakin was alive, for the time being. He looked up and saw the Inquisitor's ship passing by his own. He stared at it, trying to see through the windows of the cockpit.

Inside, the Sister was smiling. They made eye contact for the briefest moment, and Anakin tried to read her. Her face was one of a victor, someone who had pulled off a perfectly planned move. Anakin realized that she had known he was going to come out of the other end. She knew he was going to make it.

The Jedi braced himself, signaling the cruiser that he was in trouble and expecting the Sister to blast him to pieces, but the shot never came. She flew off back to her own cruiser, and when he studied the fight before him, he saw that all of the Separatist forces were retreating. What confused Anakin was that the Republic cruisers were still in one piece, if not for a few hits taken. Why were they retreating so early in the fight?

Anakin didn't have time to really think about it. The Separatist cruisers jumped to hyperspace, leaving the Jedi and the clone troopers alone in the black void of space.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan spoke to him again. "Anakin, we got your distress signal, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Obi-Wan," he told him, sitting back in the chair of his fighter. "The Inquisitor shot my left wing off. I need a lift back to the cruiser."

"I've sent a retrieval ship out to get you," said his master. "Once you get back into the hanger, get back up to the bridge. There's something you need to see."

"What is it?" Anakin asked. "Obi-Wan, what did she do?"

Obi-Wan sighed over the connection. "I'm afraid the fight was just a distraction, Anakin. The real damage was on the cruisers."

"What did she do?" He repeated.

"She took out our hyperdrive. The other cruisers, too. We're stranded."