Hi everyone. I apologise for the delay, but I wanted to start the "Padawan Mini Arc" in the Oder Redeems. Thank you for your continued support. Anyway, on with the chapter, Anakin and Ahsoka hunt for the hidden lab and make a discovery that may just push Ahsoka over the edge. This will be the first chapter of genuine answers. I hope you all like. WARNING; Ahsoka's depression gets bad in this chapter; very bad.

An Agri-Corps Mystery: Chapter 6 – Discoveries

Anakin Skywalker sighed as he woke up again. In reality, it wasn't the early morning that was annoying him on this occasion, it was worry. Ahsoka was genuinely in pieces after the revelation that all the crops she had dedicated all her efforts on for the last few months were making toxin and therefore worthless. He knew that she was depressed enough as it was and he was deeply fearful of what this would do to her, especially after the difficult time he had had just getting her to sleep. It required a Force suggestion from both him and Kliph to finally get her to relax.

Anakin prayed to the Force that a night's sleep had helped Ahsoka get over her pain enough to help him. He still didn't understand exactly why, but he now cared for Ahsoka a great deal and although he would never admit it, he was desperately trying to think of ways to get her out of this situation.

That thought brought him back to the mystery on Pheebos. He hadn't had much opportunity to think about it the night before with caring for Ahsoka, but now, he ran it through his mind. The outcome of Kliph's tests had surprised even Anakin himself. How could plants which have been eaten for thousands of years suddenly start to produce a nerve toxin? Somebody must be at fault and Anakin was fairly certain that the lab that seemed to be hidden somewhere in this base would hold some answers. That, he determined, would be his goal for today; find that lab. If she was well enough, Anakin was determined that Ahsoka would do the search with him. He knew that she desperately needed something to take her mind off things. Not to mention the fact that she knew the base considerably better than he did.

As he got out of bed and started to prepare for the day, he remembered the conversation that he had had with Ahsoka the day before. He wondered exactly how many empty quarters that there were in this base as he was fairly certain that at least one of them wasn't what it appeared. They would be the perfect place to start.

Anakin pulled his lightsaber to his hand and left his quarters. He feared what he would be faced with but he knew that he had to wake Ahsoka; the hidden lab must be found. He approached the door of her quarters quietly and carefully; the last thing he needed was to scare or pressure her more. Stretching out with the Force, he sighed with relief. Ahsoka was already up and seemed mercifully calm. Her Force signature was still full of sadness however, which didn't surprise Anakin in the slightest. Being as calm and gentle as he could, he knocked on her door.

The door slowly opened and a deeply sad looking Ahsoka Tano looked back at him. "Morning Master Skywalker," she said in the same monotonic voice that she first spoke to him in. Yesterday's revelations had hit her hard. Ahsoka believed her purpose, her reason to get up, had just been pulled from under her. For the previous eighteen months, she had been the girl responsible for the crops that were grown in the base. It was her that made them grow, used the Force to aid them, harvest them. They were they nearest things to an offspring that she, as a Jedi, was allowed to have. Indeed, for the vast majority of the time, the plants were her only companions. Although, in hindsight, she was slightly ashamed of herself for breaking down the night before, she couldn't stop herself; she now had no reason to exist. She was after all, an Agri-Corps Jedi. With no crops to grow for the Order, she was worthless. In fact, she believed that she was even more worthless now than that moment she was called in front of the Reassignment Council to be assigned here.

Anakin took a few seconds to check Ahsoka over. He noted immediately the monotonic voice that she was using again. He also noted the remnants of tear stains around her eyes and her cheeks and, to his horror; he sensed every one of her self-destroying thoughts. "Are you alright Ahsoka?"

In truth, Ahsoka wasn't alright but she knew that she had to put a front up. There was no reason to worry Master Skywalker as he had enough to do trying to find out what had happened here. She decided to blatantly lie with the hope that her mental shields were enough to prevent him from sensing the truth. "I'm fine. It….it just hit me yesterday. I'm sorry, as a Jedi, I shouldn't have fallen to pieces like that."

Anakin shook his head; Ahsoka's lie was obvious. He wasn't exactly sure what to do about it, however. He was a Jedi Knight, not a psychologist. He decided that he would bring the full extent of her issues to the attention of the healers once he got back; maybe that would get her away from here. Anakin frowned; even that didn't seem satisfactory to him for some reason. He knew that she needed more. For now, he decided to hide his thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand. "Are you ready? We have to find that lab today."

Ahsoka looked down but nodded. She still didn't believe such a lab existed, but she was grateful to be doing anything worthwhile. "Yes. Where do we start?"

"As we agreed yesterday, Ahsoka, we will hunt around the other quarters. I've got a feeling that one of them isn't what it appears." Anakin gestured for Ahsoka to follow him. "Where are the most out of the way quarters?"

As she ambled along at the side of him, Ahsoka thought. That was not a question that she had had to think about before. Indeed, it was not a question that anyone had really had to think about; except Anakin for some reason. "I suppose….the ones that are right at the end of this corridor. They are right at the end of the building and I can't remember anyone really being there."

Anakin smirked. To him, that sounded like the perfect spot for a hidden lab; stuck out of the way where no one went. In addition, he really valued Ahsoka now; he would have been wondering around aimlessly, possibly for hours, without her knowledge. "Alright, let's check it out. Remember Ahsoka, we may not find it straight away." He silently cursed as he was sounding like Obi-Wan again. Dear Force, he would have to stop that before he turned into his former master.

Ahsoka looked up at him. She was anything but convinced. "Or we may not find it at all," she whispered quietly.

"What was that?"

Ahsoka momentarily froze. She had no intention of Anakin hearing her last comment. "Nothing, I'm just thinking out loud to myself."

Anakin raised an eyebrow as he had, in reality, heard every word but said nothing. It was good that she had some fight in her still, he reasoned. He just signalled for her to follow as they set off down the corridor.

It took them a few minutes to arrive at the sweep of quarters that Ahsoka had told Anakin about. Anakin looked around. There was a group of five doors around the corridor that they had just arrived down and Anakin immediately frowned. There was no doubt that something was amiss here as he could sense the same strange feelings in the Force as he did when he first woke up on Pheebos but the feelings were far stronger here. However, Anakin couldn't tie the feelings down enough to pinpoint exactly where they were coming from. "We'll check each one of these in turn Ahsoka. If we find one that won't open then we'll investigate more."

Ahsoka nodded as they tried the first door. It opened as normal revealing quarters which were more or less identical to Anakin's. They moved around trying three more until they came to the last one at the very end of the corridor. As Ahsoka pressed the panel to open the door, a warning tone was heard and the door refused to open, instead a request for an entry code appeared on the panel. "That is strange Master Skywalker. The other doors would open; why won't this one?"

"I think we've found our lab Ahsoka," Anakin replied.

Ahsoka looked quizzically at the door. "But, how are we going to get in?"

Anakin smirked and grabbed his lightsaber. "I've got my very own key right here." He ignited the blue blade and tried to stab it through the door. To his dismay however, the blade bounced off.

As depressed as she was, Ahsoka managed a small smirk of her own. "Some key."

Anakin was puzzled; although it was good to see Ahsoka smirking. His lightsaber should have cut the door to ribbons. He extinguished the blade and examined the door. "Ah, I see. Mandalorian Iron."

"Mandalorian Iron?" Ahsoka asked. "What is that doing here?"

"Best guess Ahsoka…" Anakin answered, "…..someone wants to keep other Jedi out and went to the trouble of commissioning the door."

"Great," Ahsoka exclaimed. "What do we do now?"

Anakin cursed. He wished that he had R2 with him at that moment. Unfortunately, since he didn't, there was really only one way that they could get in. He sighed and answered, "I'll have to hot wire it I suppose."

Anakin put his lightsaber back on his belt and pulled the control panel off the wall. He noted that the wiring in the panel had been deliberately designed to make hot wiring as difficult as possible so although he knew that no electrical device was complete immune to hot wiring, this panel was going to take a long time. He studied the insides of the panel for several minutes; this particular wiring setup had the most protection in it that he had ever seen. There was no doubt in his mind that someone didn't want anyone going inside this room. These were definitely not just quarters; he had definitely found the hidden lab. Now all he needed to do was get into it.

Ahsoka watched with increasing uncertainty as Anakin continued to fight with the panel's wiring. If she wasn't so down and depressed, she would have been rolling on the floor with laughter after all the curse words in both Huttese and Basic that Anakin was spewing out at an increasing regularity. The truth was however, that she simply couldn't bring herself to laugh; the situation seemed so pointless to her. Instead, she stood there, and with a quizzical look on her face, she sighed. She knew that they were going to be here for a while.

-0-0-0-0-0-

It was two hours later. Ahsoka had given up standing and she had decided to sit on the floor. As the minutes ticked by, she became increasingly bored. The time spent watching Anakin had also allowed her to think; the fact that she could sit idle for two hours confirmed to her how pointless her life had become. She suspected; no she was certain, that she would be thrown out of the Order entirely now. Without any crops to grow, why would they keep her? She wasn't Padawan material and this was the only way she could serve the Order and the Republic; now she's failed at that, they would have no use for her. Oh yes, Ahsoka was beginning to think that this whole poison thing could be her fault. She hadn't done anything of course, but could she have made a mistake perhaps? She hoped not, but how could she know?

Anakin stopped his work on the wiring of a second as he picked up Ahsoka's thoughts. His heart sank; her depression was getting worse and he was lucky that her mental shields were beginning to slip. How could she think that she was at fault for all this? Her very thoughts had just proven that she was completely innocent. He knew that she had been set back the previous day, but he had no idea she was that bad. He thought back to the last time he contacted the council and remembering the words of Master Ti almost made his heart stop. He began to ask the unthinkable; Ahsoka thoughts were getting so low, would she try something stupid? He had to consider the possibility and he pledged that he would not allow that. He was determined that she would receive some help now; her depression had to the treated.

His head began to ache with the multiple worries that were flowing through his brain and in an attempt to ease them; he turned his attention back to the wiring. Fortunately, he had deduced the correct way to hack the circuits. Stripping the signal wires leading to the lock, he jammed then into the positive power conduit which overloaded the electronic lock. Anakin smirked with triumph as the lock finally succumbed; a click signalling the door's release. He stripped out the charred remains of the lock circuit so that the door cannot lock again and then turned to Ahsoka. "Come on Ahsoka. Let's get some answers."

Ahsoka slowly nodded and with some reluctance, she got to her feet. "Okay," she replied as she slowly followed him inside.

Anakin made a point to smile at her as Ahsoka joined him just inside the door. He had to try anything to convince her that she was wanted and needed. He feared what would happen otherwise and if he was honest, he didn't want to think about it. Anakin turned his attention to what was behind the door. He wasn't exactly surprised to see a staircase that seemed to lead down under the rest of the base. Indeed, he suspected something of that general type.

Anakin and Ahsoka made their way down the staircase, noting that the lighting came on as they descended. The bottom of the staircase came out to a reasonable length corridor that stretched out under the rest of the base. The corridor was white with lighting integrated into the ceiling. Anakin could see a set of containment doors about a quarter of the way down the corridor that were, fortunately open. Beyond the doors, several rooms could be seen branching off and even from where they were, scientific equipment could be seen in a couple if the rooms. "We've found our labs, Ahsoka. And I think we've found what the strange controls were for."

Ahsoka looked up at Anakin and nodded. She was extremely shocked to see that the labs that Anakin suspected actually existed. "I've never been down here. I….I never knew this existed."

"I know." Anakin gave her a kind smile. He could sense the uncertainty in Ahsoka and he wanted to make a point of telling her that he knew of her innocence. "We need to look around." He pointed to the first room. From where he was, it seemed fairly innocuous; he didn't want to send Ahsoka anywhere dangerous or distressing. "Have a look in that first room Ahsoka. I'm going to look in what appears to be the main lab."

Ahsoka looked at the room with uncertainty. "Okay," she responded with a slightly shaky voice.

Sensing her fear, Anakin put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay Ahsoka; I'll be in the room next door if you have any problems. We have to split up. This place is too big for us to search if we don't."

Glad to feel somewhat important, Ahsoka nodded. Gathering herself, she set off to the first room. Anakin smiled and a feeling of pride swept through him as he watched her walk into the room. He had no idea why he felt proud of Ahsoka. Nevertheless, watching her fight her fear did make him proud. He stood there for a few seconds and then he walked towards what he thought was the main lab.

Anakin walked inside the lab. The whole room was full of equipment which Anakin started to study in close detail. There were several banks of DNA sequencers similar to the ones on Kamino that created the clone troopers. These ones though were smaller. Anakin reasoned that they were designed for much smaller but more precise projects. Anakin frowned however; why would an Agri-Corps base need these? The one thing that was certain was that this lab was undoubtedly where the scientists were stationed. The big question that remained however was: What were they doing here? Anakin hoped that as he continued to search this lab, the answer might show itself.

As he continued to look through the lab, he started to come across individual work areas with petri dishes and other assorted items. The other thing that he immediately picked up on was that fact that the work areas looked like they had been systematically cleared and cleaned. It was obvious however, that the process had been a touch rushed and Anakin had to wonder why. He then remembered that the various people in this base had all left extremely quickly leaving only Kliph and Ahsoka to presumably take the fall. He frowned with a hint of anger at that thought.

Eventually, he reached the far end of the lab and finally, he found what he was looking for. In the far wall, a permanent lab computer was installed; maybe he could get some answers from that. Walked up to it and entered the commands for the computer to boot. To his surprise, there were no passwords or security checks built into the system. Anakin figured that whoever installed this computer thought that the Mandalorian Iron door would all the security that was needed. Anakin smirked; how wrong they were. As the computer completed its boot sequence, the main menu came up and Anakin's eyes widened immediately. Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn't this. "Genetic Manipulation Progress?" he whispered to himself in a stunned voice. For a second, he wondered why they hadn't wiped the computer's memory but he figured that they mustn't have had time.

Anakin pulled up the details of the genetic manipulation from the computer's memory and he was stunned. From what he read, it appeared that the scientists here had been experimenting on the genetic code of the three species of fruit and veg that were grown on this base. The computer gave no indication of what they were trying to achieve but he did find the last set of results entered into the program. What he read made his blood run cold. Almost the entire latest batch of crops planted here were the products of the genetic experimentation here and from what he read, somebody had made huge mistakes. He still didn't know exactly what the genetic alterations were, but from the results on the computer screen in front of him, it was clear that the scientists and the other Jedi here clearly knew that they had created crops that could kill. That is why everyone abandoned this base in a hurry. They had left Kliph and poor Ahsoka to take the blame even though they were the only two who had no idea about this.

Anakin was angry; in fact, he was furious. Making the mistakes was bad enough, but there was no excuse for running off and leaving Ahsoka take the blame. No wonder Ahsoka was so depressed if that is what the other Agri-Corps Jedi who were here thought of her. He shook his head; someone will pay for this. The people that ran from this base were guilty of child neglect and multiple counts of manslaughter potentially. Anakin sighed as he wondered again what the point of all this was; the people here were fellow Jedi; Agri-Corps but still Jedi. Surely fellow Jedi wouldn't deliberately create poisonous crops. He knew that he had discovered as much as he could here plus, from the results of Kliph's tests, he knew that this base was now contaminated. He made a decision; he would return to the temple to report to the council and he would take Kliph and Ahsoka with him. They couldn't do any good here either now.

Anakin was brought out of his thoughts by a scream and a panicked female voice. "MASTER SKYWALKER! HELP!"

He instantly recognised the voice as Ahsoka's and he ran out of the lab back towards the room that he sent Ahsoka into. Before he could enter the room however, he was met by distraught and incoherent Ahsoka. She ran straight into his arms. With tears streaming down her face, she stuttered, "M….m….m….master, he's d...d…d…dead. He's dead."

Anakin's face turned to shock. "Who's dead?"

Ahsoka couldn't speak anymore; the last of her world had been brought down around her. She led him inside the room and down the far end. Sure enough, behind some holo card racks lay a human male in an advanced stage of decomposition. Although he had obviously been dead for some time, his face was still recognisable and it was obvious to Anakin that Ahsoka had recognised him. Anakin had to swallow a few times to prevent himself from being sick as he bent down to examine the body. A blaster wound in the centre of his chest was clear to see and Anakin knew that this guy had been murdered. He looked back at Ahsoka, "Do you know him Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka wasn't doing well. She was falling into total despair. Would the pain ever end? She had lost everything; Master Plo Koon, her chance at being a Padawan, she had just lost her only reason to exist with the contamination of the base and finally, she had lost the only other Jedi on the base who had occasionally spoken to her. The loneliness of her situation got critical; the pain must end. With tears uncontrolled and streaming, she managed to nod. "His name was Draskel Kifar. He…..he was the only one here who would speak to me sometimes but, I never saw him that often."

Just as Anakin was about to reply, he sensed Ahsoka break. Her crying became uncontrolled and she turned and fled.

Ahsoka's despair soared and her mind filled with painful thoughts; she was nothing. She was certainly no Jedi; she couldn't even stop herself crying. Was she really that pathetic? She must be, she reasoned; why else would she be stuck here alone with no one that wanted to speak to her. Ahsoka ran and ran; up the staircase and back along the corridor. She turned into the side corridor and ran into the warehouse. All she wanted was the pain to stop; she couldn't take it anymore. She didn't want to be alone anymore as she wanted to be back with Master Plo Koon. Feelings of hopelessness filled her being as she opened the end door of the warehouse and she ran to the shed with the harvesters.

As soon as she opened the doors, she ran inside and collapsed behind one of the machines in tears. She had to stop her pain; she couldn't live like this. A thought went through her mind. It was a thought of hope; there was one way out and she knew she had to take it. She looked around in desperation; her eyes stinging from the tears. Her gaze fixed on a spare harvester blade on the rack in the corner. She held out her hand and pulled it to her with the Force. She held the blade in her hand and studied it. It was about thirty centimetres long and made of durasteel with a hardened point and cutting edge. Ahsoka knew it was used to slice the pink lettuce before they were brought on board the harvester. If it could harvest pink lettuce, then it could end her suffering.

"Goodbye everyone," Ahsoka said to the air before she held the blade in both her hands. She aimed it at her own heart; her pain will end now.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Anakin was flying. He had seen and sensed Ahsoka's thoughts as she fled and he knew that she was in trouble. He knew that Ahsoka was in danger and he knew that she was in danger from herself. He ran back up the staircase, hoping to see where she went but she was faster than him and was out of sight before he got to the top. His mind raced as he remembered Master Shaak Ti's words again; Togrutas had been known to commit suicide if their loneliness gets too much. He began to panic as the Force screamed a warning to him but where was she? He knew that he had minutes at the most and he stretched out with the Force. Anakin cursed loudly; why did she have to be in the harvester shed?

Anakin's grasp of the Force was the strongest that had ever been seem from a Jedi and it came to the fore. He dove into the Force and enhanced his speed greater than he ever had before. He flew along the corridor and down the side corridor. Once he got to the warehouse, he noticed to his despair that the large door at the end was already open; Ahsoka had already been here. Was he already too late?

Anakin sped out of the door and headed to the shed. As soon as he got there, he didn't bother to see if the door was open or locked, he just let out a Force blast that was strong enough to blow the door off its rails. He ran inside and scanned around. His eyes widened as he saw Ahsoka with a blade in both of her hands. He could see that she was about to stab herself. "AHSOKA NO!" he screamed. His instinct took over as he held his hand out and pulled the blade out of her hands with the Force and threw it sideways out of the window. He didn't care in the slightest that the blade smashed the window on the way out.

Ahsoka looked at him in shock. She was overcome with tears as she pleaded, "Please Master Skywalker. Please, let me end this; let me do this. I….I want to die. I want to become one with the Force."

Anakin ignored her plea and threw himself to the floor. He pulled Ahsoka into his arms and with an understanding voice, he replied, "Don't you dare, Ahsoka. Don't you dare." Anakin held her tight as Ahsoka's body shook from the effects of her own suicide attempt. Anakin was also shaking; shaking with fear. He had seen death of course. He had watched as his mother died in his arms, he had seen men die on the battlefield in their thousand, he had seen fellow Jedi get killed in this war and he had even lived through his own precious wife being killed but this? He had never encountered this before. The fact that Ahsoka was a Jedi was irreverent; she was a bright, intelligent, innocent young girl with a heart of gold. The fact that she wanted to kill herself terrified him.

As Ahsoka cried into his robes, Anakin came to a decision. Ever since he had arrived on Pheebos, the Force had been driving him to Ahsoka and now, finally, he knew why. He had to save her and he was determined to make sure that she didn't end up stuck alone in the Agri-Corps again. There was only one way to guarantee that and now all he had to do was make the idiots on the council agree. That was going to be a fun conversation but first, he had to get Ahsoka and Kliph back to Coruscant; it wasn't safe for them to stay here.

Well that's chapter 6. Yes, this is a major chapter and you have some answers now but not all the answers and of course, there's a murder to solve now as well. One word in case anyone asks. Ahsoka's attempt on her own life does seem rather abrupt but I planned it like that. In reality, this had been building up in her for over a year it was just that finding that dead Jedi finally pushed her over the edge. You'll be happy to know that now the full extent of her problems have come to light and Anakin is firmly in her corner, things will improve for Ahsoka quite quickly.

Next chapter; Anakin tries to get Ahsoka and Kliph back to Coruscant. What will the council say about the true situation on Pheebos and will they approve Anakin's decision?