Thank you to the 17 people who reviewed the last chapter. Here's another note: this is AU so Anakin met up with Grievous before RotS. Also, please vote on the poll I have on my website. I need to narrow down the list of possible names I have for Obi-Wan's kid. And for those who submitted names in the last chapter, sorry I couldn't use them but I already have so many to choose from. Here is chapter 23. I hope that you like it and, as always, reviews are much appreciated.
Chapter 23
"Mission go, how did it?" Grand Master Yoda's hologram asked once Obi-Wan was patched through to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Siri stood at his side with Ferus standing next to her and Jenica on Obi-Wan's other side.
Siri glanced at her apprentice. "You may go first, Ferus," she said.
Ferus nodded. "Yes Master," he said before he glanced at the hologram. "Jenica and I went to rescue Dr. Fhernan…" he began before explaining what happened from arriving at the base to discovering the diamotite bombs beneath the base.
Yoda frowned. "A trap was it?" he asked.
"We believe so, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said calmly before he explained his and Siri's part of the mission. "Durd wasn't there though when we reached the top floor but Ventress was. The odd thing was that she let us escape. I think she let us go because she knew the base was rigged to explode."
"That is possible," Mace Windu's hologram said. "What of Skywalker and his apprentice?"
"When Anakin last contacted me through the Force, it was to tell me that he and Ahsoka were going with the bioweapon onto the dreadnought it is to be installed on. We also learned that Dr. Fhernan's family are being held hostage on the dreadnought where the bioweapon is to be placed."
"Know this does young Skywalker?"
"Yes Master Yoda. If I know Anakin then he will try to get Dr. Fhernan's family off the dreadnought before destroying it."
Yoda nodded before he pursed his lips together. "A trap the base was. A trap Skywalker and Tano could be walking into, hmmm?" he asked.
Obi-Wan was silent for a long moment. "It did seem odd that Anakin was able to get onboard the dreadnought without problems," he said.
"My guess," Siri said, "is that Anakin and Ahsoka are walking into a trap."
"It's also possible that Anakin knows he's walking into a trap," Obi-Wan added.
Yoda nodded. "Heading where are you now?" he asked.
"Chandrila. Anakin told me that that is where the bioweapon is heading."
"Very well."
"May the Force be with you," Mace added and their holograms flickered before disappearing.
Later that day, Obi-Wan and Siri finally had some time to themselves. Ferus and Jenica were checking on Dr. Fhernan who had gone to the medbay soon after they arrived onboard the Resolute. So Obi-Wan and Siri were sitting side by side in Obi-Wan's room thinking about everything that had happened.
Or at least that's what Obi-Wan was doing. He wasn't exactly sure as to what Siri was thinking about.
"This bond feels so different, Obi-Wan," Siri said turning her blue gaze to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan smiled faintly. "It does," he agreed touching Siri's mind with the Force and she responded in kind.
Siri rested her head on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Do you think this bond is the Force approving?" she asked.
"I think so, Siri."
"I'm surprised no one felt that disturbance."
Obi-Wan frowned because he was surprised no one had felt the disturbance. He didn't even know if the bond's formation had caused a disturbance or not. "I don't think it caused a disturbance. If it did then no one felt it or no one is worrying about it," he said.
For a long moment, they were silent until Siri broke it by asking, "what do we do now, Obi-Wan?"
"For one, we still have a mission to complete, Siri. After that then we can discuss what to do." Obi-Wan kissed Siri on the cheek before getting to his feet. "I'm going to go check on Ferus and Jenica. Do you want to come with?"
"I'll join you later, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan, deciding that Siri perhaps needed some time to get used to everything that's happened, nodded before turning around and walking out of the room.
"So what now?" Ahsoka whispered eyeing the droids that were walking down the corridor toward them. They hadn't seen the two Jedi yet and that was only because Ahsoka and her master were peering around the corner in an intersecting corridor.
"Straightforward approach, we take the fight to them or subtle approach, we wait for them to pass by," Anakin said. "You decide."
Ahsoka was silent for a long moment. "If we take the fight to them then we may alert Grievous to the fact that we're close to the bioweapon but Grievous already knows we're on board so he'll probably still be ready for us even if we take the subtle approach," she said.
Anakin nodded before waiting.
"Let's go with the subtle approach, master," Ahsoka said coming to a decision in her mind.
"Why?"
Ahsoka floundered before she came up with an answer. "Grievous already knows we're here so why tire ourselves out fighting droids when we can just let them walk by and be fresher to deal with Grievous and get Dr. Fhernan's family out of there," she said before glancing at her master hoping that she had done a good job in explaining why she chose the subtle approach.
"Very good Padawan," Anakin said smiling before he turned his gaze to the corridor.
"Thank you, master."
"Good to know I'm not a bad teacher," Anakin added with a smirk.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes knowing Anakin would have taken the straightforward approach right away but she said nothing as she watched the droids walk past the corridor. On an impulse, she glanced over her shoulder before frowning when she noticed the corridor behind her was clear of droids. She doubted that the bioweapon had been transferred to the room they were heading towards that quickly.
"Master…" she whispered before she sensed the approach of danger and she tapped her master on the arm before dashing toward the nearest room and slipping inside. Anakin, apparently having understood her silent warning or feeling the danger in the Force, dashed in after her before closing the door slightly.
A long line of droids, each of them carrying crates filled with the pieces of the bioweapon, walked past the room before turning the corridor meeting up with the droids Ahsoka had seen earlier. Some of the crates were bigger than others to where some had to be carried by two, three or four droids.
Once the line of droids had walked past, Ahsoka felt Anakin stretch out with the Force. "All clear," he whispered before slipping back into the corridor and walking to the intersection again. He peered around the corner before pressing his back against the corridor wall gesturing for Ahsoka to stay where she was.
She watched as droids walked down the corridor that intersected the one they were in before turning and heading away from where Anakin was standing. None of these droids were carrying crates. The young Togruta waited until there weren't any droids before she walked back to her master's side.
"It looks like that is some sort of service turbolift," Anakin said pointing to the door at the other end of the corridor perpendicular to the one they were standing in. Ahsoka peered at it just in time to see the doors close. "It's possible that it takes the parts of the bioweapon directly to the room where it is to be assembled."
"Makes sense," Ahsoka said. "So that helps us how…?"
Anakin grinned. "I think we just found a way to get to the room where the bioweapon and Dr. Fhernan's family are being kept," he said.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"No but it's all I have. Besides, we have no idea where the bioweapon is located and following where those parts are going might be our best bet at finding the weapon."
"Sounds far-fetched."
"Do you have any better ideas?"
Ahsoka grimaced knowing her master was right. "All right fine. Let's do it your way," she said. "So we wait for the droids to come with more pieces of the weapon and leap into the turbolift before the doors close?"
"Pretty much."
Ahsoka sighed. "I really hope you know what you're doing, master."
"So do I."
Anakin watched as the droids stepped away from the turbolift after placing the crates with pieces of the bioweapon in it. When they were away from the turbolift, Anakin gestured to Ahsoka who was standing across the corridor from where he was standing. She used the Force to lift a piece of the weapon up and touch the button on the turbolift wall that would keep the turbolift in place for a while longer. She then nodded to Anakin who crouched down waiting for the droids to round the corner. Once they rounded the corner and the corridor was empty, he dashed toward the turbolift and leapt onto the pile of crates; he was joined by Ahsoka a moment later.
She crouched down on the crates and released the manual hold on the turbolift's doors and the doors slide closed before the turbolift began its journey upward. "What do we do when we reach where these crates are supposed to go?" she asked.
Anakin pursed his lips together thoughtfully. "Wait for the droids to empty out the turbolift and leave the lift before the doors close without being noticed," he said.
"And how are we supposed to do that?"
Anakin fastened himself to the roof of the turbolift by holding himself up with his hands and feet pressed against the turbolift walls lying across from each other. Ahsoka, eyes widening in understanding, did the same thing. They waited as the turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened before they watched as the droids removed the crates from the turbolift.
They're keeping the crates in the turbolift lobby, master, Ahsoka's voice drifted through their bond.
Perfect hiding place then, Anakin replied through the Force before watching as the droids took the last of the crates. He used the Force to keep the turbolift open before he dropped silently to the ground and dashed out of the turbolift to crouch behind three crates stacked on top of each other near the doors to the turbolift. Ahsoka followed suit before crouching down across the corridor from Anakin behind two crates.
The turbolift doors closed once Anakin released his hold on them and the droids began moving the crates at the other end of the corridor. The corridor was short and Anakin could see a large room lying beyond the mouth of the durasteel hallway. He dashed to crouch behind the three crates lying diagonally in front of him and Ahsoka followed suit. They weaved their way forward until they were crouched behind the second to last stack of crates near the mouth of the corridor.
Anakin peered into the room. Droids were walking back and forth and Anakin could see that parts of the weapon were already being put together n the middle of the room. At the other end of the room, with stun cuffs cuffing their hands behind their back and a gag over their mouths, were four people; to young men, one woman and one little girl of seven or eight years of age.
"Dr. Fhernan's family?" Ahsoka whispered.
"Likely," Anakin murmured eyes narrowed. "But where's Grievous?"
Ahsoka peered into the room before looking around and glancing at Anakin with a shake of her head. "I can't see him," she whispered.
"That doesn't mean he isn't here."
"Good point."
Anakin watched as the droids continued to rock in front of him. "This hiding place won't last long, Ahsoka," he said.
"I know," Ahsoka replied before she pointed toward a pile of empty crates about a quarter of the way around the room closer to where the four hostages were located.
Anakin nodded. The two of them waited for the droids to be looking in the other direction before they dashed toward the pile of crates and crouched beside them before moving to another set of crates closer to the family. As it turned out, there were crates next to where the family was placed. Whether that was a coincidence or not, Anakin didn't know.
The little girl spotted them first and her eyes went wide before she nudged the woman at her side. The woman glanced toward the two Jedi before her eyes flickered with surprise. She nudged the two young men who also turned to them.
Ahsoka glanced at Anakin who was examining the room. "How are we going to get them out of here?" she whispered.
"We managed to get here without being noticed, Ahsoka, so I think it's time for a more straightforward approach."
"What about Grievous?"
"I'll worry about Grievous, Ahsoka. You're mission is to get Dr. Fhernan's family out of here."
"Where do we go? We're still in hyperspace."
Anakin pursed his lips together in thought. "We should be reaching the Chandrila system soon, Ahsoka. If I remember the map right, Lanteeb isn't far from Chandrila," he said.
"Okay so that solves the problem of where to go when we get off the dreadnought. Now how do we get off the dreadnought?"
"Highjack a transport."
Ahsoka stared.
Anakin shrugged. "If it works…" he said before he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. "There aren't that many droids here and it looks like they haven't finished building the weapon yet. We should be able to destroy it without too much trouble. Ready?"
Ahsoka unclipped her lightsaber before taking a deep breath. "Ready," she declared before she ignited her lightsaber and dashed forward after Anakin as he ignited his lightsaber and attacked the droids in the room. He and Ahsoka made quick work of them before Anakin dashed toward the weapon and began examining it.
"Most of it is already put together," Anakin murmured examining the weapon. "The main portion of the weapon hasn't been installed yet though."
At that moment, the Force throbbed with warning and Anakin whirled around as the turbolift doors opposite where he was standing opened and General Grievous stepped into the open followed by a squad of droids.
"General Skywalker, what a surprise," Grievous said coolly stepping forward to where his feet clanged against the durasteel ground.
"General Grievous," Anakin responded just as coolly ignited his lightsaber.
Grievous ignited his lightsabers before leaping at Anakin who quickly blocked the blow. "Kill the Padawan and the hostages," he shouted.
"Ahsoka, get them out of here," Anakin shouted at the same time struggling to keep Grievous's blades from touching his face.
Ahsoka sliced through the stun cuffs with her lightsaber before using the Force to Force push the squad of droids away as the hostages removed the gag from around their mouths. "Come on," she called to the family as Anakin lashed out with the Force to send Grievous sliding a few feet away and ducking to avoid the green blade that sliced toward his head before blocking the blue blade that was aimed at his midsection.
"Master…?" Ahsoka began as Anakin and Grievous continued to duel back and forth.
"Go, Ahsoka! I'll be fine," Anakin shouted.
"Yes master." Ahsoka turned around before dashing out of the room after the hostages with her lightsaber ignited and in her hand but Anakin could feel her worry through the Force.
"You are not match for me, Skywalker," Grievous snarled. "I've beat you before and I will do it again."
"Try it," Anakin retorted blocking the blow aimed at his legs.
Ahsoka noticed that the two young men had grabbed the blasters the droids had dropped when she had Force-pushed them out of the way. The woman was carrying the little girl in her arms and her eyes were glittering with fear. "Where do we go?" she cried glancing at Ahsoka.
"The hangar bay," Ahsoka replied gazing around. "I think I remember the way."
"You think?" one of the young man asked raising his eyebrows.
Ahsoka's lekku twitched slightly. "We came up here on the service turbolift," she replied.
The young man curled his lip into a sneer. "So naturally we have no way out of here," he said matter-of-factly. "Some rescuer you are."
Ahsoka bristled.
"Kias, be nice. She did get us out of there," the woman snapped before she glanced at Ahsoka. "I'm sorry about my son, Master Jedi."
"It's all right, ma'am." Ahsoka couldn't help but wonder how the woman was related to Dr. Fhernan.
"More droids are coming from that direction," the second young man said pointing back the way he had come. Ahsoka hadn't even noticed him leave.
Ahsoka grimaced. "Our best bet, take a turbolift to the floor my master and I just left. I might be able to find the hangar bay from there."
"If I remember when we were brought here correctly," the second young man said. "Then that turbolift will take us directly to one of the hangar bays."
"How did you know that? We were unconscious when we were brought here," the woman protested.
"I guess they didn't give me that much of the drug," the second man said with a shrug.
Ahsoka narrowed her eyes; something wasn't right with that young man. His reason as to why he was able to see where he was being taken didn't seem to ring with sincerity. As for the turbolift taking them down to one of the hangar bays, that was true. Ahsoka was unsure of what to do though because she didn't trust the second man. There was something wrong; that bad feeling was still lingering around Ahsoka and she couldn't help but grimace wondering why there were so many bad feelings associated with this mission.
"Come on," she said before she led the way toward the turbolift hoping she wasn't making a mistake.
Anakin rolled out of the way of Grievous's lightsaber before scrambling to his feet holding his lightsaber at a ready as Grievous began twirling his four lightsabers around and dash toward him. Anakin quickly dashed out of the way of the blades determined to get closer to the weapon that Grievous had chased him from at the beginning of their duel. This might be his only chance at, at least, sabotaging the weapon.
"Was it really wise of you, Skywalker, to send your Padawan away?" Grievous demanded whirling around to keep Anakin in his line of sights as Anakin attempted to get behind him.
Anakin narrowed his eyes; there was something in the way Grievous said those words that suggested something Anakin didn't like. "What are you talking about, Grievous?" he demanded.
Grievous laughed, it sounded hoarse more a cough than a laugh. "How do you know you aren't sending your precious Padawan to her death?" he demanded.
Anakin's eyes narrowed even more that bad feeling was coming back. "She can handle herself against your droids, Grievous," he retorted.
Grievous let out another one of his hoarse laughs. "And how do you know the threat is my droids?" he demanded.
Anakin stiffened eyes flickering with surprise before he stretched out with the Force toward his apprentice. More importantly, he touched the Force presences of the four individuals that were with his apprentice. Three of the four were immediately cleared of deception but the fourth…
"One of them is working for you, isn't he?" Anakin demanded eyes flaring with anger.
Grievous didn't answer as he leapt at Anakin forcing him to quickly move to the side away from the weapon to avoid the blades. He blocked the blow before sending a quick warning through the Force toward his Padawan.
One of the hostages is working for Grievous, Ahsoka.
Ahsoka's reply came almost right away. I think I know which one it is, Master. I'm keeping an eye on him, she said through the Force.
Anakin blocked a blow aimed at his leg before ducking to avoid the glowing blade that was aimed at his head. He lashed out with the Force before leaping backwards and flipping to land on top of the half-made weapon. He dashed toward the other end of the room where the main piece of the bioweapon needed to be installed. The room was larger than Anakin had first thought and just as he had pointed out before Grievous showed up the weapon was almost finished; the main piece was the only thing left to be assembled.
"Come back and face me, you coward," Grievous snarled.
"I am not the coward here, Grievous," Anakin shouted back leaping to the floor behind the weapon. He ducked beneath the weapon before watching Grievous who was walking around the weapon toward Anakin's location. There was a small gap between the weapon and the wall on Anakin's left-hand side that Anakin hadn't noticed before.
He crouched down before moving deeper beneath the weapon watching as Grievous walked past. He already knew he was trapped if Grievous turned around. He just had to wait long enough for the cyborg to reach the other end of the room before using the path Grievous had used to return to the more emptier part of the room.
But while he was beneath the weapon…
Anakin glanced up at the smooth metal above his head before he ignited is lightsaber and stabbed it upward into the weapon and slicing downward. He knew he gave away his position to Grievous but it was the best he could come up with in terms of sabotaging the weapon. When Grievous whirled around, Anakin moved out from beneath the weapon and onto the path the cyborg had used.
He sank his blade into the side of the weapon before dashing back to the middle of the room slicing through the weapon as he went. He skidded to a halt in the center of the room before whirling around as Grievous charged after him. Their blades clashed and Grievous pushed Anakin toward the door he had used to enter the room.
"You think that little stunt will stop us from achieving our goal, Skywalker," Grievous said coolly.
"It's a start," Anakin retorted blocking the blow aimed at his thighs before moving backwards into the corridor with Grievous just behind him. He sensed the danger before whirling around and blocking the blaster bolts that the droids who were in the corridor were firing at him. He also used the Force to block the attacks from Grievous but he knew that he couldn't defend against Grievous and a squad of droids at the same time.
Getting out of there was probably the best way to go.
Anakin blocked Grievous's lightsabers before using the Force to flip over the droids slicing through a few of them as he did so. He dashed toward the turbolift sending blaster bolts flying back at the droids that were still firing at him.
"After him!" Grievous shouted.
"Roger, roger," the battle droids said before hurrying after Anakin.
The turbolift opened to reveal more droids and Anakin, swearing in Huttese under his breath, changed course and dashed down the corridor that intersected with the one he was in. He Force pushed the droids out of his way before rounding another corner and pressing against the wall grateful that the corridor he had entered was clear of droids.
At least, for the moment.
Anakin took a deep breath before glancing to his left and right but he couldn't see any droids. However, the droids that were following him were still behind him.
Anakin swore under his breath again. This is getting a lot harder, he thought igniting his lightsaber before dashing to the right blocking blaster bolts as he dashed past the corridor he had left earlier. He kept running knowing the droids were just behind him. Briefly, at the same time, he wondered how his apprentice was faring.
Ahsoka stepped out of the turbolift first before gesturing for the hostages to join her as she crouched beside the main boxes and crates that were stacked all around the hangar bay. The hangar bay was devoid of droids, which was just as odd as everything that occurred since the mission began, but Ahsoka did see a couple of transports resting there. The bluish white flashes of hyperspace still shot past so Ahsoka had no idea as to what to do until the dreadnought leapt out of hyperspace.
"What do we do now?" The woman whispered.
"It's really odd that there are no droids here," Kias said frowning.
"It is," the woman said softly. "I don't think Grievous would have wanted us to get out of here this easily."
"We're still in hyperspace so we can't get out of here until we get out of hyperspace," Ahsoka said.
"Yes but that doesn't mean Grievous would just let us get away without even some droids trying to stop us."
Ahsoka frowned seeing what the woman was getting at. "It's like he's not even trying to stop us," she said quietly, "which means he wants us to get away or he has something else up his sleeve."
"But what?"
Ahsoka shook her head; she didn't know. She turned her gaze back to the hangar bay before she glanced at the former hostages. "Come on," she said. "At the very least, let's see if we can get a transport."
The woman nodded and she, still carrying the seven or eight year old girl, followed Ahsoka as she led the way to one of the transports across the eerily empty hangar bay. Kias and the other man followed them but Ahsoka tossed a few quick glances over her shoulder at the second young man.
Something wasn't right about him but she couldn't figure out what.
At least until half an hour later after she finished preparing the transport for takeoff once they leapt out of hyperspace. She walked back into the cargo hold of the ship before glancing at the former hostages. The young woman was sitting on one of the benches while Kias was examining the hangar bay with a frown on his face and the second young man was crouched beside the little girl.
"We'll just wait here for Anakin," she said.
The woman smiled gently at Ahsoka. "Thank you, Master Jedi," she said.
"You're welcome," Ahsoka replied.
That's when it happened.
The blaster bolt came seemingly out of nowhere and, much to the shock of Ahsoka, the horror of the little girl and the anger of Kias, it struck the woman directly in the head. She was dead before she hit the ground.
Ahsoka, igniting her lightsaber, whirled around to find the second young man, blaster still smoking, grabbing the little girl's arm causing the horrified girl to cry out in pain.
"Put the lightsaber down, Jedi," the second young man snarled pointing the blaster at the little girl's head, "or I'll kill her right here and now."
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: bet you didn't see that coming
Anakin: WHAT THE HELL? ANOTHER KRIFFING CLIFFHANGER!
Blaze: (laughs) I love cliffhangers
Obi-Wan: obviously
Harry: what's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to…?
Severus: SHUT UP POTTER!
Harry: make me!
Severus: (spells muzzle on Harry's face)
Harry: mmmmmm!
Sirius: how dare you muzzle my godson?
Severus: he was being annoying
Sirius: (points wand at Severus)
Blaze: (reaches for lightsaber only to discover it is missing) WHO TOOK MY LIGHTSABER?
Severus, Sirius, Harry, who somehow managed to remove the muzzle, Obi-Wan and Anakin: Palpypie did!
Blaze: (pulls out flaming machete) where is he?
Darth: (sipping cappuccino) there (points to Palpypie who was attempting to hide)
Blaze: (charges at Palpypie)
Palpypie: (screams like a girl and takes off running)
Sirius: (grins and tosses hex at Severus)
Severus: (dodges hex) oh it's on! (Tosses hex back at Sirius)
Anakin: (watching Severus and Sirius duel) Okay I guess I'll finish this chapter. Please review and Blaze will post chapter 24 as soon as she possibly can but she doubts it'll be anytime soon