Chapter 13 - Mission to Teth

DISCLAIMER: We (unfortunately) do not own Star Wars. :P

Author's Note: In which the Teth arc occurs. :D

We have finished a second tribute for Vader on our YT channel. Check it out if you're interested. :P No spaces in the link: youtu . be / TrRylvLR0fE

Many thanks to loldelegate here on ff. net who has been giving us advice and suggestions for this fic! We never could have made so many unique plans without you! :D

Also, I blame a certain friend of mine for the reason Anakin can connect his lightsabers to have a double-bladed lightsaber. Lol. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Ryan. :)

~ Amina Gila

"How did you get the shield down?" Ahsoka hears one of the clones asking as she looks for Anakin. She'd been on the bridge until they made the hyperspace jump, then went searching for the soon-to-be padawan.

He's standing in the middle of a group of the clones, taking to them. "We snuck through the lines pretending to be droids and got in and out without anyone noticing. Well, until after the thing was blown up anyway."

She's almost surprised at how easily he's interacting with the clones. Most of the Jedi she's met don't really talk to them much, at least not beyond giving orders. If they do, it's generally only really to the captains or commanders. Anakin is treating them like friends. It's good to see that, for once, someone else views them in the same way she does. Not even Obi-Wan does, really. He may see them as people, but he keeps his distance, knowing that these are his men, not his friends.

Which brings Ahsoka back to the question of whether or not she's going to take Anakin as her padawan. She still isn't sure. She'd love to work closely with him, but taking on the responsibility of a padawan? She's not ready for that. She's hardly twenty, and the boy looks rather advanced. Only time will tell. She has a really hard time imagining calling him her padawan, though.

"Anakin," Ahsoka calls, slipping between the gathered clones. "Come on. We need to prepare for the battle."

He seems minorly disappointed as he turns away from the clones but brightens almost immediately. "Prepare how?"

"We'll start with looking over the map to get a better idea of the landscape and what we're up against," Ahsoka replies. "Now, come on."

The journey flies by, as it always does in wartime, and before Ahsoka knows it, they're exiting hyperspace and heading down to the surface of the purple planet. That's when Obi-Wan contacts her with the message that he's spoken to Jabba, and they have to return Rotta by one rotation.

"It won't take long," she promises before the hologram turns off, and she glances at Anakin. He's scared – she can feel it in the Force, even if he's doing everything possible to hide it – and that's not a surprise; it is his first battle, but his eyes are shining with the fiercest determination she's ever seen.

The moment is broken when the gunship suddenly lurches as an explosion rips past it. "Close the blast shields!" Ahsoka orders sharply. The gunship goes dark before a red light turns on, slightly illuminating the small area. She feels the vibrations stopping as the engine dies and the ship lands, doors sliding open.

The bright light and warm, humid air of Teth flood the ship immediately. Ahsoka whips out her green lightsabers and jumps out, sprinting forwards. Droids are shooting at them from atop the monastery. Anakin is right behind her, presence shining as brilliantly as ever. She can sense him nearby without even trying, but she takes effort to keep an eye on him anyway. It wouldn't do any good for him to get injured or worse on his first battle, even if he seems to be handling himself well so far.

They come to a stop at the side of the wall and look up. "Fire ascension cables," Ahsoka orders, then turns to the future padawan. "This is where the fun begins."

"Race you to the top!" he replies cheerfully, snapping the ends of his lightsaber together to form a dual blade. Ahsoka's eyes widen a little. She's never seen any other Jedi do that before. Anakin doesn't wait another moment, sprinting to the nearest cable and catching onto it with one hand, pulling himself up, his lightsaber held tightly in the other.

Ahsoka turns off one of her lightsabers and jumps onto another cable. It would be way too clumsy to have both out; she couldn't climb properly. And with the droids shooting at them from atop the wall, the battle begins.

**w**

Anakin isn't really sure what he was expecting being on the battlefield to be like, but he never considered this. He's fought droids before, but it's always been training droids. One second too slow never meant death. And one slip, he'll fall all the way down to the ground below. He can only focus single-mindedly on pulling himself up the wall and deflecting the blaster bolts raining down on him.

Something suddenly screams through the Force, a shockwave rippling outwards from nearby. One of the presences that was there is just... gone. Is that what it feels like when someone dies? Why does it hurt so much? He reinforces his shields as best he can and keeps climbing, trying to stave off the pain. There's nothing else he can do without getting himself killed.

He continues pulling himself up the wall, deflecting blaster shots as he goes. The droids are shooting continuously down at them, and suddenly a blast from one of the spider droids on the wall strikes one of the walkers head on. The front of it explodes, and it tumbles backwards off the wall, plunging all the way to the bottom. The shockwave that ripples outwards this time is much stronger, though he does manage to somewhat brace himself against it. How can Ahsoka casually keep climbing as though nothing's wrong? Why does it feel like he's the only one affected by this? Is his shielding really that terrible? Are the others so used to things like this that it doesn't affect them so much anymore?

He'll never be able to climb all the way up the wall like this. It's too risky, especially since he has to keep swinging his double-bladed lightsaber with one hand while maintaining his grip with the other. One wrong move, and he'll lop off his own head. Using his cable, he swings across the wall, landing on top of the other ascending walker. At least from here he'll be able to protect the clones as well as fighting the droids.

Anakin positions himself on the front of the machine, blocking the blaster shots. Parts of blasted up droids rain down around him as the walker continues ascending. But they've hardly made it more than a few more meters up the wall when he senses danger screaming through the Force. Turning, he sees battle droids on speeder zooming around the corner, firing at them.

One of the speeders comes zooming straight at them. The rocks to which one of the walker's front feet is attacked explodes, and it jerks away from the wall, nearly losing its grip entirely. Anakin loses his balance, and almost falling off. He catches onto the edge, struggling to pull himself up, back to safety.

A second blast strikes the side of the walker, and he slips again, nearly tumbling all the way off. Why do people always make it look so easy to catch yourself when you fall? He hardly has anything to grip on. Just then, Ahsoka leaps down, landing on top of his walker before jumping off onto one of the droid's speeders. She chops off it's head, throwing the pieces aside before leaping onto the next one.

Anakin pulls himself up onto the top of the walker as it begins to reattach itself to the wall and leaps onto the last of the droid's speeders like Ahsoka was just doing. He uses the guns to blast the droids along the wall as he speeds up to the top after Ahsoka. He leaps off the speeder as soon as it's close enough, whipping out his lightsaber to cut through the droids. He throws himself into the Force, noting that he feels oddly detached as he moves.

One of the shots from the droids on top strikes Ahsoka's speeder, and it explodes as she springs off, landing in the middle of the droids. The two of them make quick work of the remainder, and soon they're all lying in pieces on the platform.

**w**

Ahsoka would much rather have any other mission than this. The Jedi shouldn't even be involved. They don't help people who need it most if they have nothing to gain from doing so, but then, they don't hesitate to aid a Hutt when it is in their own best interests. It's blatantly wrong. Jabba can get his own child back if he wants him so bad. He'll just grow into a monster anyhow, even if he is only a baby right now.

"Looks like we've found the Huttlet," Ahsoka observes as they stop outside a door. The stench is coming strongest from in there.

"Yeah, I smell it, too," agrees Anakin, sounding disgusted, though not as much as she currently feels.

She pushes the door open, to reveal a tiny Huttlet larva wailing on the floor. Ugh. She can't wait until they can ditch him already. "Well, he's younger than I expected so this should make things easier," Ahsoka huffs. At least they won't have to worry about him scooting along lazily like all Hutts, being a bigger nuisance than he already is.

"Yeah, we can carry him for now," concludes Anakin, eyeing Ahsoka for a moment. She suddenly finds herself wondering if he's seeing through her, because right now, it certainly looks like it. "I can handle it, unless you'd like the... honor?"

"No thanks, I'll pass," she replies, grateful she doesn't have to get any closer than absolutely necessary.

Anakin picks up the Huttlet, and the two of them head back to where the clones are waiting. "Master Tano?" the boy says suddenly, voice laced with worry. "I think the Huttlet is sick. His temperature is rather high... unless they're like that naturally."

She reaches over, resting a hand on the baby's slimy head. "You're right," she realizes grimly. Things just got a lot more complicated. They don't need Rotta dying before they get him back to Jabba or things will be even worse. "We need to get him back to the cruiser as soon as possible."

"Then let's get moving," Anakin advises.

Obi-Wan contacts them a few minutes later to see if they've gotten Jabba's son back, only to be interrupted when Ahsoka spots approaching droid ships, and everyone scrambles for cover.

**w**

"We've got spider droids inbound!" Rex calls as the clones open fire on the approaching droids. Anakin positions himself behind Ahsoka as she blocks the blaster bolts with her lightsaber. He can't very well fight and hold the Huttlet at the same time. He hates being unable to join the action. There's so much chaos, and it makes him feel utterly useless to be standing off to the side like this while people are dying.

"Anakin, get inside," Ahsoka calls over her shoulder as more battle and super battle droids pour through the opening. He runs for the building, ducking the blaster shots as they hit the ground around him. He's barely made it inside when one of the walkers explodes next to him, and everyone else starts backing into the monastery as well.

"Captain, we'll stay here until General Kenobi arrives with reinforcements," Ahsoka decides as she enters and the doors close.

"Shouldn't we be trying to find a way out of here?" Anakin objects, frowning. They don't have time to sit around and wait.

"We're supposed to be protecting the Huttlet, and that's what we're doing," she replies.

"Yes, but we have to get him to Tatooine before time runs out. If someone can get him up to the cruiser, maybe we can get an evacuation team down here, so we don't have to stick it out and get cornered in here," he points out.

"First we have to find a way out."

"Artoo could help with that," he suggests.

"If we keep the droids here as long as we can, you might have time to get out safely," Ahsoka decides. Artoo immediately gets to work searching for the plans, plugging himself into a computer port.

Anakin nods in understanding. He'll be handling this part of the mission, and he'll have to do it alone. He'd be lying to say he's not a little freaked out about it, too. He never expected to be doing something on his own like this so soon - he never has before. What if something goes wrong? What if... what if she doesn't want him? Dwelling on it won't help, but he can't shake off the lingering fears. Obi-Wan definitely has more important things to do than deal with a padawan right now, but at least it gives him some hope. Ahsoka hasn't yet said a word about what her intentions are, either.

His mind wanders back to the mission. He can sense Ahsoka's underlying anger. The Huttlet seems to be drawing up something, some sort of bad memory. She is from Tatooine. It's a slaver-controlled planet. Maybe her family had some problems with authorities before coming to the Temple? She is a Togruta, and he knows they aren't treated well by slavers. Maybe that's why she has problems listening to the Council. Obi-Wan had warned him about it in advance, though Anakin has yet to see that issue arise.

"I'll go help the clones," Ahsoka tells him before she slips out of the room.

He still waiting for Artoo to finish when he can suddenly hear the distant sound of blaster shots. The droids have obviously made it into the monastery. Artoo finally beeps, displaying a holomap of the building's layout.

A backdoor landing platform. "Good job, Artoo. Lead the way," orders Anakin. With that, they hurry out together towards the landing platform.

The occasional flashes in the sky far above indicate that Obi-Wan's definitely arrived by now. Well, now he just needs to figure out how to get back to the cruiser since he doubts anyone will be able to send a ship. Anakin scans the surroundings, ignoring Rotta's wailing. He's doing his best to tune it out – he really doesn't want to deal with this. He doesn't even know how. Honestly. He's never been taught to take care of younglings before.

The problem now is how is he supposed to get off the landing platform? He can't very well contact anyone, but there has to be a ship around here somewhere. Rotta wails again, and Anakin sighs in mild annoyance. "It's gonna be alright," he attempts to reassure the Hutt, half talking aloud to himself more than anyone. "I'll find a ship, and –" His gaze falls on a structure standing out against the late afternoon skyline. It's far enough that he can't see well, but it looks like there's a shuttle on it. Well, it's worth a shot, if he can figure out a way to get to it.

Reaching into the Force, he senses the area is teeming with life, even if it's high above most of the jungle. Including the bug-like creatures on the underside of the platform. It's worth a try. Anakin reaches out, trying to connect with one. He's never had the easiest time at connecting with animals in this manner – at times he has a difficult time remembering that he doesn't have to worry about being hurt by them – but he's gotten better over the years. He closes his eyes and tunes out the rest of the world, attempting to focus. After a few moments, one of the bugs flies over the ledge. It's plenty big enough for him, and he hopes he can keep the connection all the way there. He wishes someone else was here to help him.

"C'mon, Artoo," he tells the droid, hopping onto the creature and making it take off. The droid flies after.

The bug is most unhappy about him hitching a ride, but he's able to keep it well enough under control so that he can guide it over to the landing platform. He jumps to the ground, Artoo landing next to him. It's a small shuttle, one that looks like a complete wreck. Rotta is finally being quiet now that the danger has settled down a bit. Anakin shrugs off the backpack, crouching to attach him to Artoo. "Watch over him for me, will ya?" he asks, patting the droid's dome. "I hafta prime the engines, assuming it has engines."

A clanking sound draws his attention back to the ship. The caretaker droid he and Ahsoka had encountered earlier walks down the ramp, approaching him. "I was wondering what happened to you!" Anakin exclaims, standing and turning back to the droid.

"Oh, young one," it exclaims. "I had to get away from that terrible –"

"Okay, everything's loaded," calls a battle droid's voice, descending the ramp. "Let's get out of here."

The caretaker droid... it's working for the Separatists?! It came to them in the monastery to fool them and walk them into a trap, didn't it? "You traitor," Anakin accuses angrily. Maybe he hadn't exactly trusted it, but he's never had a reason to mistrust a droid before. They were his only friends at the Temple when he was growing up. In a way, it stings to know he can't trust them, especially now that the war has started.

"Blast him!" orders the caretaker droid, rushing back up the ramp. There are only three battle droids, and Anakin chops them up almost before they start firing. He stalks towards the caretaker droid.

"Don't you dare," it warns as he approaches it. Well, there's no point destroying a droid that can be useful. Anakin deactivates his lightsaber, reaching over and shutting the droid down, ignoring it's shrieks.

"Come on, Artoo," he calls as he drags the protocol droid up onto the shuttle, "We need to get out of here before someone notices us." Or before Rotta dies. So, hopefully, this shuttle is actually flyable. But if there's one thing he's good at, it's flying things that are impossibly damaged, so he's not too worried about it.

**w**

A deafening explosion rips through the door. Ahsoka ignites her lightsabers instantly, throwing herself into the Force. She can't see a thing from how smoked up the area is, but she can still feel enough in the Force. Her lightsaber moves in a blur, slicing through the battle droids right and left.

The clones all open fire on them, but even with her there, there are so many droids that her men are falling far too fast. Finally in a last-minute effort, Ahsoka reaches up, ripping down part of the ceiling with the Force and throwing it down to block the main entrance. Droids continue entering, but much slower. Or at least they do, until Ventress arrives, jumping over the debris with an unnecessary shriek.

Ahsoka raises her green blades to the block the red ones as the other woman lands on the ground in front of her. She easily parries her blows as Ventress starts slashing at her wildly. It doesn't take long for her to start forcing the Zabrak onto the defensive. Finally, she throws out a hand, Force shoving Ventress backwards. The Sith assassin raises a hand the same moment, sending her flying back too.

She's on her feet first, charging at Ventress, and their blades start clashing again. The Nightsister is good, but Ahsoka is better. Ventress lets out a sudden scream of rage and starts wildly swinging at her, forcing her back a few steps for a moment before their blades crash into a saberlock.

Ahsoka finally pull back as some droids approach. She whirls around, sending two of them flying with a Force-shove and jumping at the rest, and swiftly cutting through a bunch of them. Until danger ripples through the Force, and she spins around to block Ventress' next attack.

The Zabrak suddenly kicks Ahsoka back into the wall, before spinning around and running. The Togruta is on her feet again in a flash, only to see Obi-Wan arriving. What a coward. She ran again, like she always does.

"Where's Anakin?" inquires Obi-Wan, glancing around.

"I sent him up the cruiser with the Huttlet," she replies. Hopefully, he got there alright. The battle was down here, not up there, so he should have been fine, but she can't be certain. She did the best she could, and the boy can handle himself remarkably well, but she has no idea what he could encounter. He's only a padawan, and even Jedi masters can be overwhelmed sometimes. The losses of Geonosis are still too fresh in her memory.

Dialing his frequency into her comm, she glances up at the sound of approaching aircrafts. Gunships are arriving. They can finally evacuate from here and head to Tatooine to return Jabba's son.

A flare of anger runs through her again as she looks back at her men. So many of them are dead or injured, even though she stayed here to fight alongside them. And all this to protect a stupid Hutt. But at least the hard part of the mission is over now. Or it is unless they encounter a more Separatist resistance once they reach Tatooine. Knowing her luck, that's exactly what's going to happen.