Hi guys! This chapter is short but the next one will be VERY long, and feature lots of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka! Lots more Obi-Wan after that, 'till the end of the story. My very reasonable goal for myself is to finish by the end of the year. I've also decided to start replying to reviews because you guys are so awesome! So…if you reviewed on my last chapter, look down at the bottom of the page!

Chapter 10

Anakin pelted down the corridors of the Jedi Temple, looking for one man in particular. Being inside the Temple with a book of Sith writing burrowing a hole in his pocket made him a little nervous, but he was a soldier, and had carried life-threatening secret weapons through enemy territory before—what was so dangerous about this?

The sense he was getting of Ahsoka needing his help wasn't nearly strong enough for him to pinpoint her location—like it or not, his Force abilities were beginning to wane as the poison continued to work its way through his system.

In the hall, he passed a group of older younglings, in their early teens. "Have any of you seen Master Windu?" he demanded of them, rearing to a halt.

"No, we haven't seen him," a boy with orange skin—like Ahsoka's—replied, eyes wide as he looked over the bedraggled Jedi.

"Right," Anakin panted, sprinting past them again. Turning the corner, he crashed into someone familiar—it was Obi-Wan.

"Anakin, where have you been this side of the galaxy?!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, rubbing his nose from bump it'd received. "We've been trying to contact you for two days; there's been an emergency!"

"There's been more than one of those, thanks, Obi-Wan," Anakin spat, grabbing the wall to keep himself from toppling over. "Where's Master Windu?"

"In the medical bay a floor above us," his old Master replied, shaking his head as Anakin ran past him toward the lift. "He'll brief you about what we need you for!" he shouted after him. "Wait—Anakin!"

Upstairs, Anakin did indeed find Master Windu, talking with Yoda in an urgent tone as the two Masters worked their way through a holopad laid flat on the waiting room table.

"Master Windu," Anakin shouted breathlessly, collapsing in the chair beside him and ignoring Yoda's disgruntled look at being interrupted, "Do you know if Ahsoka's been here? Or anywhere? Any contact at all from her?"

Mace lifted his eyebrows in surprise to see him, and at his question. "Not that I know of, Skywalker. Why would your former Padawan be here?"

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. "Master, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

Going aside, as Yoda and Mace made several faces at each other that probably indicated something Mace was about to say to him, Anakin decided he was going to be honest with Windu. He didn't really have any other choice. "Ahsoka's in trouble," he told the Jedi Master. "She's in grave danger. I can sense it, but I can't sense her location. I don't think she's too far away, but—honestly, Master, my abilities have been decreasing. I don't know how to find her."

Windu grimaced, as if he had bad news to tell. "Listen, Skywalker, I know that's important to you—it is important for all of us—but we're currently facing a crisis ourselves. And—I'm sorry to say this, Skywalker, but even given what you're going through right now, we need your help."

Anakin raised an eyebrow, concerned. "What with?"

"You know that there was supposed to be a mission yesterday to hijack the suspect Separatist base on Machibo," Mace explained. "I managed to arrange for General Krell to take the mission with Master Kenobi instead of you, since you wouldn't answer your com and I knew for a fact you weren't well enough to take on a mission this intense. The problem is that General Krell was attacked and seriously wounded last night while returning to the Temple with his clone battalion," he gestured toward the door, behind which Anakin knew General Krell was inside one of the recovery rooms.

"One of his clones also went completely missing," Mace added. "No one knows exactly why or how or who did it, and he hasn't been conscious long enough yet to tell us. None of his clones seem to know what happened, either, and there's no security footage. The bigger problem is that we have to get into that Machibo base as soon as possible, and there's no one available to accompany Master Kenobi."

"I can't leave right now for Machibo!" Anakin exclaimed incredulously. "I have to find Ahsoka! And—Master, there's something—strange—going on with Chancellor Palpatine, too. He just confided in me several odd secrets that really need to be looked into."

"Not right now," Mace replied calmly. "We've agreed to let Kenobi take a scout crew ahead of time to scope out the base and prepare for attack. Your 501'st legion isn't even available at the moment, so we were planning to let you take Krell's legion, but they're in a terrible condition. Krell has been driving them hard, as you've seen him do before," there was a slight bitterness to his tone that Anakin couldn't recall having heard before. Windu had always been calm and emotionless as he discussed war procedures, especially when referring to clones. "Several of them are wounded, and they're all exhausted and simply uninspired to fight."

Anakin listened closely, not surprised that Krell's clones were in such a condition but still disappointed. And he still didn't want to do this. "So what am I supposed to do?" he shrugged, frowning.

"Get them ready to fight," Mace replied, with a grim look. "In less than thirty hours. We'll keep an eye on the Chancellor while you're gone and look into the issues when you get back."

Anakin held back a coarse laugh. "Thirty hours? To repair Krell's legion? To get them healed and rested and trained and dispatched; thirty hours?"

"All those things, in addition to finding and rescuing your former Padawan, if I'm hearing your request correctly," Mace conceded.

"You bet you were." He was starting to get a sinking feeling, however, that they were going to run out of time for all this.

"So do you agree to train the clones and take them to Machibo, if I help you locate and assist Miss Tano at dark tonight?" Mace wagered.

Anakin almost smiled. Mace was never one to wager. He was his commanding officer, in a way—he always gave the orders. And here he was, treating him like an equal. "Agreed." he shook the Master's hand firmly. He didn't like waiting 'till dark to look for Ahsoka. He swore he could still hear her screaming in his head, calling for him to come after her, but he knew as well as Windu did that Machibo could mean life or death for everyone on Coruscant.

Priorities were hard to set, but very necessary.

"May the Force be with you, Skywalker."

"Thank you, Master."

Replies to Awesome People:

Scottusa1: Yeah, Anakin's in trouble. Big big big trouble. It's weird because before, Anakin and Ahsoka were always able to help each other out, but now they're both in a crisis!

ErinKenobi2893: I love your reviews so much :D And I totally agree. Any ideas for what I should do to Palpatine at the end?

.5851: Yeah, but what kind of help, hmm? (;