Chapter 18 – The Academy
Author's Note: In which Theseus and Ahsoka go to Mandalore. :D
~ Amina Gila
"I still don't see why I had to be chosen for this mission, out of the million other padawans out there," Ahsoka whines.
"Maybe they enjoy torturing us," Theseus offers.
"Yeah, great. Makes me feel so much better."
"Good. And maybe they also thought you really wanted a meditative break."
"That really makes me feel better about it," Ahsoka huffs. Theseus smirks slightly in spite of himself. He doesn't mind the break from fighting, at least not that much, although he's still not looking forward to how boring this assignment is definitely going to be. At least being on guard duty or something would be more interesting than being a teacher, of all things. It is a little disturbing, though, how much Ahsoka hates doing pretty much anything that doesn't involve constant fighting and action. Not that he can blame her since that's all they've been taught to do since becoming padawans, but still. It shouldn't be that way, or at least that's certainly not what the older generation of Jedi are like.
"The Jedi Council has given both of you this mission. It's your duty to see it through," Anakin speaks up finally from the pilot's seat of the shuttle they're in. He's eyeing them in a way that somehow manages to be sympathetic and amused at once.
"Don't you think we're just a little overqualified for this?" Ahsoka grumbles.
"According to Senator Amidala, Mandalore is a deeply corrupted world. If the cycle is to be broken, the future leaders at the Royal Academy of Government must learn the evils of corruption. Yoda feels that only young padawans like you can get through to them," Anakin reminds.
"That's true," Theseus agrees cheerfully. "Half the times when adults talk, they have this way of being as confusing and boring as possible, no offence to Obi-Wan."
Anakin snorts. "I'm sure he'd love to hear that assessment."
Ahsoka snickers. "Let's hope he never does."
When they get off the shuttle, Satine, Almec, a group of guards, and several cadets are waiting for them. "That's a fine weapon," Cadet Korkie says literally the moment they're done being introduced, "Can I see it?" He looks unbelievably eager. Theseus supposes he understands why. If he hadn't been raised a Jedi, he'd be fascinated with the lightsabers too.
"I'm afraid not," Almec objects, "Because of Master Kenobi's recent visit and the trouble that followed, no off-worlders may carry weapons on Mandalore." Well, hopefully that doesn't include his droid which can be useful in fighting sometimes. He's definitely not parting with BD.
"Master Obi-Wan caused trouble? That's a first," Ahsoka smirks.
"It was hardly his fault! And I saved the day!" Theseus protests. Because he really doesn't want to be on this mission without a weapon. Yes, it's supposed to be... well, boring but he doesn't like going anywhere without a weapon constantly with him. He always has his lightsaber with him, ever since he got it. Even when he sleeps, it's always on the table by his bed or hooked on his belt or under the robe he's sleeping on, depending on where he is.
"Just give them to me," Anakin instructs. With a reluctant sigh, he hands his over.
"Excuse the interruption sir, but it's time to depart," Rex says, walking up behind them, "General Shan is expecting us." Speaking of his mother, Theseus really wishes he could be going on this mission with her instead of being here on Mandalore. But there's hardly a point complaining about it; it's not like it will change anything.
**w**
All in all, the first day as a teacher wasn't really that bad. Theseus is tinkering with some droids, even though he shouldn't be risking breaking them when Ahsoka returns to their quarters sometime later. He totally understands why Anakin spends so much time working on ships and droids. It really distracts Theseus too, and now it doesn't constantly remind him of Vraz. It's one thing he's grateful he's managed to get past, but it's only a painful reminder that even when people close to him die, everything keeps on moving, not even giving him proper time to mourn before he's thrown on forwards again. Life is never fair, as Master Obi-Wan said.
"So how was your first day as a teacher?" he asks cheerfully as she walks in. BD is sitting next to him, watching.
"Boring, boring, and boring," Ahsoka deadpans.
He laughs. "Well let's hope things stay boring. I don't really want to be getting into another mess here." He tries not to think about what happened last time, and the concerns that have nagged him occasionally ever since. He knows what Anakin said is true, about his family being the Order now, but that doesn't mean he wants blood relatives who are literally terrorists.
"We should be out there fighting," the Togruta huffs, flopping down on the seat next to him.
"Maybe we did need a short break."
"Oh, come on. Are you trying to sound like Obi-Wan?" she whines.
"Someone has to keep you in line," he replies cheerfully.
"That's what I have a master for."
"Who is arguably even crazier than you."
"I seem to remember you joining in chaos even more than me."
"Impossible," Theseus denies flatly. "You live with him. I don't."
Ahsoka rolls her eyes. "Well, care to tell me why you're dissecting these droids, very much like someone else I know?"
"I always put them together when I'm done," he insists.
"Let's hope you remember how."
"Well, you can always help if you want."
"Then I'll mess up for sure," Ahsoka smirks, "I didn't watch you take them apart."
"So encouraging," Theseus smirks, "I'll finish up here and then maybe we can take a walk around the city a bit before bedtime." He doesn't want to go to bed right now. Not yet. His visions got worse the last time he was on Mandalore, and he's afraid they'll only worsen. Besides, he'd really like to take a look around.
Not to mention getting to spend a little longer about Ahsoka. For a brief moment, his mind wanders back to that moment in the cantina when they were looking for information on Boba's whereabouts. It wasn't anything but the mission. Or so he wants to keep telling himself. A part of him can't help but feel like there was something a little more to it. And it scares him because he's not allowed to feel like that. He can't. But now isn't the time to think about it. Or better yet, maybe no time at all is the best time to think about it.
"And hopefully," he adds, grinning, "The attempt won't blow up in our faces literally like it did last time I was here."
**w**
Theseus is straightening up his classroom the next afternoon right after school is out when Ahsoka hurriedly enters. "Something wrong?" he asks, frowning at the worried expression on her face.
"Yes," she says, "I think I wished too quickly for this to get interesting." That doesn't sound very good.
"What happened?" he asks.
"We better go somewhere we can talk without being overheard," she replies. They slip outside, glancing around to ensure no one is in hearing distance. She's being so cautious; it makes Theseus wonder exactly how serious this is. "Several of the cadets seemed rather distracted today," she begins, "And when I asked them about it, they said that they decided to go break into the government warehouses to see if there was really a food shortage here."
"Don't they know that's illegal?" he asks in mild amusement.
"They apparently thought it didn't matter. They said they recorded a black-market deal happening there but were spotted and chased out. They're meeting up with the Prime Minister tonight to talk to him about this." Ahsoka sighs. "Sounds like a reasonable course of action, but I don't have a good feeling about it. With black market deals going on right in the warehouses, who knows how deeply the corruption goes."
"We need to stop them. We need to take this slowly," Theseus asserts.
"That's what I was telling them, but they weren't listening. I think it's a little late for that," Ahsoka objects.
Well in that case... "The least we can do is try to keep them out of trouble," he asserts, "Maybe we should follow them and see what happens. Intervene if necessary."
She nods. "Yes, so we better go track them down before we're too late." Theseus couldn't agree more. He doesn't have a very good feeling about this at all. Now he really wishes their lightsabers were with them.
**w**
Theseus and Ahsoka crouch out of sight above the buildings, waiting near where the cadets were supposed to meet the prime minister. "Either he's late or he's not coming," Theseus mutters as he carefully peaks over the edge, peering down at them. The only people he sees there right now are guards.
"Secret Service," announces one of the guards, stepping forwards, "You are all under arrest for treason, corruption, and conspiracy. You will come with us."
The cadets back into a circle as the guards advance towards them. "These are the same guards we saw last night," Korkie hisses, raises his fists to fight, "We've done nothing wrong." The cadets attempt to attack the guards but are all taken down in almost literally a few seconds. They have absolutely no idea how to fight.
"Now," whispers Ahsoka, leaping off the roof without another word of warning. Theseus jumps down after, instinctively reaching for his lightsaber for a moment before remembering that he doesn't have it. Fine. He'll have to do this the old-fashioned way.
Ahsoka lands on the first guard's head, kicking him to the ground before leaping onto the head of the next one. Theseus tackles the nearest guard, knocking him to the ground away from the cadet he was trying to subdue before yanking his blaster away and using it to render the others unconscious as well. Ahsoka is knocking the last of them out as Theseus turns around. The last guard sees everyone else is down and tries to run, but Theseus tackles him, throwing him to the ground and knocking him out too.
"Looks like the prime minister set you up," Ahsoka remarks.
"That's treason!" exclaims one of the girls, "He's the leader of our system. He couldn't possibly be a traitor."
"What else explains this?" Theseus asks.
"We need proof," declares one of the other cadets.
"We have the recording," reminds one of the girls. Korkie pulls it out, turning it on. It shows a hooded figure speaking with a group of guards. His face is too shadowed to be seen properly. "That's no good. You can't see who it is."
"Wait, stop right there," Ahsoka orders, and the hologram freezes zeroed in on the robed figure's face.
"BD, can you do an information retrieval?" Theseus inquires, "I need you to do an ID hologram."
The droid scans the hologram and after a moment, an image materializes over it. Almec. "That's him!" cries one of the other cadets in shock.
"You're right, that is the prime minister," Korkie agrees in alarm, "We have to take this to my aunt and warn her."
"We better move quickly," Theseus warns. It doesn't take them long to reach Satine's quarters, but by the time they arrive outside the door, he has the feeling that something is very, very wrong. They round the corner to see that the guards outside the door are slumped over on the floor.
"We're too late!" realizes Korkie with a start, pushing the door open and darting into the room.
"Korkie, wait," hisses Ahsoka, catching his arm, "The intruders may still be inside." He shoves past her, anyway, running into the room.
The guards lying dead on the floor and no sign of Satine pretty much sums up what happened. "They took her," Korkie moans, sinking to the floor and burying his head in his hands. "This is all my fault. Who knows what they've done to her?"
He sounds like Obi-Wan right now. On second thought, he looks a lot like him, too, and Satine, to a point. Either something very strange is going on, or the Force is trying to mess with Theseus' head.
The cadets look around the room before turning to face Theseus and Ahsoka, bombarding them with frantic questions. "Now what?"
"How are we supposed to find her?"
"Who can we trust?"
Theseus' mind whirls as he tries to come up with a plan. He's dealt with this before, the cadets haven't. "Okay, I need all of you to calm down and focus," Ahsoka speaks up finally.
"We know the Prime Minister is behind this, after my aunt, he's the most powerful person on Mandalore," Korkie says.
"Then that's where we need to start," Theseus decides.
"Let's go talk to him," concludes Ahsoka.
**w**
Within the hour, the cadets are being escorted off to prison, and they talk briefly with the Prime Minister who thanks them for their efforts. Theseus is pretty sure Almec is at least a little suspicious, but at least he's giving them free reign to move right now. And apparently, they already arrested Satine –as suspected – but Almec refuses to share where, so they'll have to figure that out on their own.
"Officer, we need to interrogate the prisoners immediately," Ahsoka commands. The guards let them past without further questions and moments later, they're in the prison cell with the cadets.
"We need to be careful," Theseus warns quietly as the door closes behind them.
"We're being watched," Ahsoka adds.
"Did he buy it?" asks one of the cadets.
"I think he knows something's wrong," Theseus admits, "But for now at least he's going along with it. Maybe he's waiting to see if we'll do something suspicious, I don't know."
"Have you found my aunt?" presses Korkie.
"Not exactly," Ahsoka replies, "But he said they have her in custody."
"He didn't say where –" Theseus begins.
"I knew this plan wouldn't work," one of the other boys sighs.
"Have a little faith. We'll find her," Ahsoka objects.
"I'm guessing she's somewhere else in this facility. We need to find a way of getting there," Theseus agrees.
"For now, we'll modify the plan. You'll know when to act when I give you the signal," Ahsoka instructs.
"What's the signal?" inquires Korkie.
"You'll know when you see it," she says, before turning to the door, "Time for some mind games."
"I'm not the greatest at those," Theseus replies dryly.
"I know. Just leave it to me." She steps out into the hall in front, approaching the guards. "You will take me to Duchess Satine," Ahsoka orders, moving her hand – maybe a little too obviously – at the Force suggestion.
"I will take you to Duchess Satine," the guard agrees slowly, turning and heading off down the hall. The other guard trails along behind them.
When they step into the room, Theseus immediately spots Satine in a cell in the center of the room, in a suspected security cell. There is a control panel nearby, which Theseus immediately hurries to. "What are you doing?" demands one of the guards sharply.
"We must interrogate the Duchess," Ahsoka replies with a Force suggestion.
The guard doesn't respond immediately and Theseus tenses. Ahsoka moves her hand slightly, clearly throwing the full weight of the Force into her words. "You must interrogate the Duchess," he agrees finally.
Theseus immediately pushes the button, and the cell begins to lower. He can't shake the feeling that this is a very bad plan, but really, what else can they do? When it finally reaches the main floor, the door slides open, and Satine stumbles out, sinking to the floor.
"I'm getting you out of here," Ahsoka assures, crouching next to her.
"Ahsoka, Theseus, it's a trap," the Duchess warns anxiously.
"I see you found the Duchess, younglings," Almec's voice rings out. Theseus whirls around to see the Prime Minister standing in the doorway, several more guards on either side of him. "You may stop your playacting now, Sergeant."
The guards immediately snap to attention. So much for being mind-tricked. Ahsoka frowns, and Theseus suddenly gets the feeling it never worked in the first place. "Using a Jedi mind trick was a very poor decision. My guards have been trained to resist such archaic magic. And now you have revealed yourselves as conspirators." Almec looks to the guards who are circling in all around them, "Set for stun."
The cannon up by the ceiling promptly turns and fires on them. Theseus is moving even before it does, attacking the guard closest to him. Ahsoka isn't able to react fast enough, and the blast strikes her. She falls back to her knees, clearly struggling not to slip into unconsciousness. He dodges behind the guard as the stun cannon fires again, kicking him hard and yanking away his shield to block the next blast when he stumbles. The guard lunges at him and he spins around, hitting him in the face.
Several of the others immediately pull blasters on Ahsoka. "Stand down, youngling, or she dies," warns Almec smugly. Theseus glares at them but drops the shield. He won't risk her life like that. Two of the guards step forwards, twisting his arms behind his back and pulling him away from Satine. He doesn't resist, knowing it would be pointless. The others do the same to Ahsoka, and Theseus has to struggle to withhold a snarl when he sees how roughly they're treating her.
Almec gleefully withdraws a holopad and holds it out to Satine, ordering her to sign the confession to her 'treasonous' ways, which she, of course, refuses to do, and then they start arguing about the black market. Theseus really fails to see how establishing the black market is supposed to help anyone, like Almec claims. He's being greedy and trying to deny it, as if there's someone who can't see through his lies.
"Sergeant, put the shock collar on her," Almec snaps finally, "My patience has worn thin, Duchess. Maybe this will convince you."
Theseus squirms against the guards holding him but doesn't break free as the shock collar is activated. He hates being forced to stand by and watch like this, as much as he's been forced to accept that sometimes, the one person has to suffer to save the many. They can't act now, not yet. Not without risking the cadets.
Finally, the Prime Minister turns the shock collar off again, looking so satisfied that Theseus wants to punch him in the face. "I would rather die than sign your confession," Satine retorts passionately.
"That can be arranged," Almec says, "Bring me those traitorous cadets." Just as the padawans had been hoping. With the cadets here, they can be assured they'll be safe and stage a break-out at once, plus they'll have extra help fighting the guards.
Satine's eyes widen in alarm. "No, you can't!" she protests, "They're just children." Almec ignores her.
Minutes later, the four of them are escorted into the room. "I'm afraid your nephew will have to suffer needlessly. Put the shock collar on Cadet Korkie."
Theseus' exchanges a glance with Ahsoka. They don't need words to know each other's intentions anymore, they've been around each other so much. Theseus rips free from the guards the same moment Ahsoka does, knocking them to the ground. The cadets jerk away from the guards that are holding onto them, and pretty much everyone tumbles to the ground as a fight ensues. Theseus rolls out of the way as the stun cannons start shooting stun bolts, and he grabs a shield to block the blasts. He moves in a blur, completely losing track of everything else as he blocks any blasts fired at him while attacking and knocking out the guards simultaneously, all the while trying to avoid getting beaten up in return.
He knocks out the last guard he's fighting, looking up to see Ahsoka slamming her hand down on a button on the control panel, and the shock collar, which is on Almec now, activates. He knows he shouldn't be feeling the flicker of satisfaction that runs through him, but he can't help it. The Prime Minister nearly got hundreds of people killed because he was greedy. And who knows how many other people have been practically starving because of him. He deserves it.
The guards run forwards again the moment Ahsoka shuts off the electricity. "Stop fighting!" pants Almec, holding up a hand.
"Send for my personal guards," Satine orders, standing up.
**w**
"I hope this assignment wasn't too boring for you," Anakin remarks with a smirk, waiting at the bottom of the ramp for them.
"Could've been worse," Theseus points out.
"It had its moments," Ahsoka chirps.
"Like the one where you convinced untrained children to help you overthrow a corrupt government?"
"That was a highlight," the Togruta grins.
"It sounds pretty risky. You're lucky you didn't get hurt."
"Nothing you wouldn't have done."
"Hey in our defense, it was technically them who got involved first," Theseus objects.
"And you went along with it even though you and the cadets didn't have any weapons to defend yourselves," Anakin states dryly.
"Hey, at least it worked out in the long run!" he insists, "Besides, what's the wrong worst thing that could've happened?"
"You got executed for supposedly committing treason before someone had time to show up and rescue you," Anakin deadpans.
"Oh, come on, we would've broken out first!"
"Without their help, could you have?"
"Of course!" He's almost offended by the insinuation.
"At least it's over. Let's hope in the future they save the boring missions for more boring padawans," Ahsoka chirps.
"Yeah, let's hope so," Theseus agrees as he and Anakin follow her up onto the ship.
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