*I still don't own Danny Phantom or Star Wars: The Clone Wars!*
Dialogue Key
"May the Force be with you." = regular speech
'Now fulfill your destiny!' = thoughts
"I'm going ghost!" = someone yelling
Shaak Ti's Rage
"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! WHY WOULD THEY POSSIBLY HOPE TO GAIN BY HELPING PRISONER OFFEE ESCAPE!? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!"
It is now the day of Barriss Offee's scheduled execution and all was set to go, but there was a problem. Barriss is no longer in her cell! But of course, you all already knew that from the events of the previous chapter. Not wanting to deal with another "Ahsoka on the run" situation, Clones were immediately sent to search for the missing former Jedi. But nothing turned up… until Rex and a couple of his troops searched the security recordings.
Everyone, Anakin especially, was shocked to find out that not only had Mace Windu and Luminara Unduli snuck Barriss out of prison and offworld, but that the two Jedi Masters are actually MARRIED and are HER PARENTS! Anyone who's not Yoda or most of the council, that is. Needless to say, Anakin was beginning to see a LOT of hypocrisy from the Jedi Order. At least from his point of view. I mean, no one knows the whole story just yet.
But more to the point, obviously steaming over this recent information and the news that two highly respected Jedi actually helped a traitor to the republic escape from prison caused the admiral to storm his way to the temple and barge right in to the council chambers demanding answers.
True, none of the gathered Jedi really like Tarkin or his attitude, Anakin especially for what he did to Ahsoka, but like the Jedi they are, they managed to bite their tongues, grit their teeth, and prevent themselves from lashing out in response to this rude man. Especially Shaak Ti, who had to try especially hard to keep up her calm and serene appearance due to her own instincts flaring up.
...Actually, she had to keep those instincts under wraps for Ahsoka's entire trial, come to think of it.
Togruta parents are well known for being fiercely protective of their families. Their children especially. And they can be even more dangerous than a full grown Rancor when their children are threatened in any way. To Shaak Ti, Ahsoka is her daughter in all but blood, and so it was tough for her to remain neutral during the whole debacle with that farce of a trial.
'They are SO lucky that I was still on Kamino at the time of that trial, or I would have torn the lot of them limb from limb for what they did to the young one! Thank the Force Skywalker had the sense to stick by his… at the time… Padawan through thick and thin.' she thought to herself.
Out loud, she simply glared at the man and stomped her way up to him as she began to really let loose her instincts. It was so scary, none of the other Jedi or the Clone Guards wanted to try and stop her.
"You have some nerve, Tarkin. Barging in here and demanding anything of the Jedi." she growled, baring her fangs as though she were fighting out in the wild. "You know what I don't understand? You come in here with controversial evidence and try to frame one of our own, and that's fine. We try to prove that same young Jedi's innocence with truely concrete evidence and suddenly you get all uppity. Especially when you know damn well that she would NEVER betray the Jedi Order! Not that you ever gave her the chance to prove herself, you insufferable, fucking simpleton!"
A few of the Jedi Council members silently gasped. That's the first time Shaak Ti has cursed in like… EVER! She's usually so calm and serene. But this is a side of her that no one has ever seen before. And if they're being honest, Jedi are not supposed to feel fear: but this is just the scariest thing they've ever witnessed! Especially since a dark aura that seems to have glowing red eyes and sharp teeth is forming around her!
'I would say it was nice knowing you, Tarkin, but that would make me a liar.' Anakin thought to himself.
'He had this coming for a long time now.' was the universal thought of the rest of the council.
Not to mention the Clone Guards outside the council chambers. In fact, Anakin himself is silently berating himself for not thinking to bring popcorn in case something like this happened.
"Let me tell you something, Admiral," growled Shaak with enough venom to kill a Krayt Dragon. "You people of the Republic Military took charge of Jedi matters once already, and the repercussions of doing so are already great enough without you causing any more trouble for all of us! So why don't you take your ugly face along with whatever Outer Rim trash you're smoking, AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT YOU WANNABE PIECE OF BANTHA POODOO!"
And with a resounding sound of *WHAM!*, Admiral Tarkin was sent on a one way trip to the stratosphere via Shaak Ti's Force enhanced kick to his butt. If one were to see it happen they'd probably compare it to a meteor flying in reverse back into outer space. And you know what? I agree with them.
"YAAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOEYYYY!" screamed Tarkin as he sailed upward and vanished with an anime twinkling star effect like what usually happens when Team Rocket is sent blasting off.
Once that was over, Shaak Ti began to take deep breaths through her nose to try and calm down while reining in her protective maternal instincts as well as her predatory instincts. It took a few minutes, but the Togrutan femme fatale of the Jedi Council was able to calm down to the point where she no longer wished to rip anybody's throats out. And she was surprised when she heard applause from all of the gathered Jedi. With Anakin's being the loudest.
"Way to put that guy in his place, Shaak!" cheered Anakin as he and the other Jedi pulled out score cards. "That's a ten!"
"Thank you, thank you! I'm here till Thursday!" Shaak quipped, unable to keep the grin off her face.
"Yes, well, as entertaining as that was, I'm afraid we must get back to business. It won't be long before the Republic Senate and the populace begins to riot about how two of the order's most respected Jedi willingly helped a criminal to escape from prison before their execution." Obi-Wan said.
"Obi-Wan is correct. Just why would masters Windu and Unduli go to the trouble of breaking former Padawan Offee out of prison like they did?" Plo-Koon asked, having gotten himself under control.
If he's being honest, that's the first time since the Clone Wars began that he's found some semblance of entertainment like that. With close friends and fellow Jedi dying left and right due to the Separatists and their Droid armies, it's become increasingly difficult to find any semblance of happiness in life.
"Unexpected, this was not. Put the life of their child before their own, parents always will." Yoda explained, knowing that most of the council knows about Mace and Luminara being married.
After all, including himself, they're the ones who approved of this marriage to begin with.
"WAIT! WHAT!?" shouted Anakin, Obi-Wan, Plo-Koon, and Shaak Ti.
They knew nothing about those two being married. Like, at all!
"You're making that up!" Anakin exclaimed.
"You guys didn't know that?" Ki-Adi Mundi asked before chuckling as he said "Where've you been? Pay attention!"
"Yeah, seriously guys, it's so obvious." Stass-Ali added.
Anakin was about to make a snappy remark at that comment, but then the gears in his mind started to turn at a rapid pace. It actually does seem obvious now that he thinks about it. Barriss really does have some physical characteristics that show she is the child of Mace Windu and Luminara Unduli.
Barriss has a few of Mace's facial features such as his eye shape and chin, and her hair and skin color are the same shade as Luminara's own. Even the accent she has when she speaks is the same as the older Mirialan's.
"Huh. Suddenly everything makes a lot more sense." Anakin commented.
"Indeed it does." Obi-Wan replied as he turned to Shaak Ti and asked "Remember when all the council used to do was sit around and argue in circles?"
"Yeah, good times." she said in remembrance with lazy eyes.
"Good times, indeed." sighed Obi-Wan.
They were broken from their trip down memory lane when they heard a low *THUD* followed by a cry of "MY LEG!" from outside and realized that Tarkin must have finally landed from his impromptu voyage into the stratosphere of the planet.
"...I'll call an ambulance." Anakin said as he, begrudgingly, proceeded to call for a medical vehicle.
*To Be Continued…*
So, that's the end of this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, even though it's still on the short side. I'm trying to think of what I can do for a backstory as to how Mace Windu and Luminara Unduli ended up married with a kid, but I wanted to get this out for Star Wars Day. It's a day early, I know, but I still hope you all like it.
Thank you guys so much for reading. And in the spirit of the holiday…
May the 4th be with you, and have a fantastic day my Jedi and Sith friends!