Chapter 6 – Not Part of the Bargain

Sulani was meditating, not an uncommon occurrence to be sure, only she was doing it not because it was required of her. No, she was doing it because she was trying not to mope. The Council explained their reasons, of course, though she honestly felt they were pulling those reasons out of thin air. It was explained, but she understood little about those reasons. The issue at hand? The bedroom she was meditating in was not her room in the Jedi Temple, no; she was in her temporary quarters aboard the Resolute. She has been temporarily deployed, for lack of a better word, as an advisory General for Anakin's fleet.

Oh the Council assured her it would not be for long, but she just knew this would not be the case. This war was not really going away any time soon and it could not be said that either side were really winning. Did she not say to Anakin that the day a Guardian Mother joined the front lines was the day the Republic was doomed? Well, maybe not in those exact words, but that was certainly how she was feeling in this moment.

Not much had happened since her arrival aboard the Resolute; the Council mostly just had Anakin's fleet in a position best able to go to the aid of other fleets in the immediate area. Her meditation was not doing much to lessen her bad mood and it came as an almost blessing when her comlink notified her of an incoming message from Anakin, "Mother, I hope you were not doing anything important, but we need you on the bridge."

Okay, maybe not a blessing if her instincts were telling her anything, "Very well Anakin, I shall be there shortly."

Looks like it was finally time for some action.

Upon walking into the bridge's communications room, Sulani found Ahsoka and Anakin speaking to Master Yoda on the Holo. "Mother Sulani, glad you could join us, I am. Needed in the Quell System Knight Skywalker's fleet is."

"Quell System, Master Yoda?" Sulani asks in surprise. "Is that not where Aayla Secura's fleet is right now?"

"Correct you are Mother Sulani, in need of assistance Knight Secura is."

Sulani shares a concerned look with Anakin before he turns back towards Master Yoda, "We will go to Aayla's aid immediately Master."

With nothing more to say, Master Yoda ends the transmission and Anakin heads towards the bridge's main room. "Alright Admiral, we need to make our way to the Quell System and make sure everyone is on high alert; we'll be flying straight into a battle."

"Of course, General."

Without delay, Anakin's fleet was on its way.

"Oh no, oh no no no, I'm not here to fight Anakin, I'm here to advise," Sulani protests, "Besides, if both you and Ahsoka leave, who will be in charge of the fleet if I don't stay?"

He gives her a bland look, "Mother, that's why I have Admiral Yularen, he'll be in charge of the fleet while we get Aayla out. There are a lot of droids on her ship; we'll need all the help we can get."

In the end, she could not tell him no and hence she found herself on the gunship heading towards Aayla's battered cruiser. There were droids all over the ship and so many in the air, blaster fire going in all directions. It was as they drew closer that Anakin noticed something, "Those droids are boarding Aayla's ship."

Indeed they were as there were many breaches in the ship's hull that the droids were using to board her ship; the situation was getting worse by the minute. It was at this moment that a droid landed on top their gunship, Anakin turns to Ahsoka to give her orders, "Take care of that clanker. I'll be on board Aayla's cruiser."

"Master, are you sure that's the wisest thing…" but before Ahsoka could finish her question, Anakin had already jumped on a nearby droid using it to get down to the ship.

Without delay, they quickly dragged the pilot down to them and dealt with the droid. Unfortunately, without a pilot and with the damage the ship had sustained, they were heading straight for the ship. Rex was getting a bit worried, "Hey, kid."

Sulani could only think how lovely it was that he forgot she was there, but allowed Ahsoka to answer, "I know! I know! I'm hanging on."

Thankfully when the ship crashed, no one was injured and the two Jedi along with their contingent of clones jumped off. Sulani and Ahsoka quickly activated their lightsabers, leading the group through a horde of droids, taking them out as they went. Their group kept moving forwards and soon met up with Anakin and his own posse of droids; all in pieces of course. With a quick use of the Force, Anakin sent a super battle droid into rows of regular battle droids, clearing a path to Aayla on the other side of them. "Nice entrance, Skywalker."

Aayla quickly went back to her droid fight while asking the very important question that even Sulani was very keen to know, "How do you plan to get us out of this mess?"

"Well," he starts, continuing to take out droids as they moved. "I have a ship docking in the lower hangar as we speak."

They did? Sulani was unaware of this, but then again, she would like to think Anakin always thought before he leapt. She could keep her sanity that way. They turned the corner to find a lone droid blocking their way, "Uh, hold it."

It got very happy when friends arrived, so the group changed course while the Jedi deflected incoming blaster fire. Ahsoka and Sulani were the first to make it to the door, Ahsoka hitting the release while calling out, "We made it!"

As they were running along the gangway, Sulani had another one of those foreboding feelings and turned just as Anakin did. He exclaimed loudly, "It's too late!"

Before anyone else could react, Anakin had quickly used the Force to push the rest of the group through the doors, Ahsoka fearfully calling out, "MASTER!"

They could all hear the loud explosion on the other side of the doors and Ahsoka made sure the pilot did not move the ship before trying to open the door. It opened only enough for her to see her injured Master on the other side. She quickly uses her lightsaber to create a hole and goes to retrieve him. Sulani is quick to help her and as they are dragging him along, Aayla starts getting nervous, "Ahsoka, Mother, we have to leave now. Hurry, get him on the ship."

Aayla moves to help them drag him completely onto the ship. After getting him on, a nearby clone closes the door before running to turn on the deflector shields. Aayla and Ahsoka each have one of Anakin's arms while Sulani placed a single hand on one of his cheeks just as she had when they first met; he had grown so much since them, but seeing him like this reminded her of the innocent nine-year-old he once was. He was in bad shape from what she could tell and this did nothing for her still bad mood.

The gangway was released and the ship was quick to move out of the way. Aayla and Sulani went to talk to Admiral Yularen on the Holo; he was very concerned about their chances of docking, "You'll never be able to dock with our ship in the middle of this battle."

"We have no choice Admiral," Aayla states, "General Skywalker's condition may be critical. We must get him back on the Resolute."

"Are all Jedi so reckless?" he asks in exasperation.

"Just the good ones."

Sulani would like to think she was not that reckless, but in light of recent events, she could not find it in her to contradict Aayla's comment.

They were very close to docking with the Resolute when a blast from a nearby vulture droid hits them, knocking out the co-pilot, and his head making contact with the controls in front of him. Commander Bly notices the results first, "The hyperdrive has been activated."

"Shut it down," Aayla quickly shouts.

"I can't!"

"General Secura," Admiral Yularen shouts through the comms, "what's going on?"

"We're going into hyperspace," she answers before turning back to Bly. "Detach! Detach!"

The admiral quickly calls for evasive manoeuvres on his end because their smaller cruiser might just take the Resolute with them. Sulani quickly moved to the front to shout last orders to the Admiral, "Admiral, finish the battle here and then find us, I don't imagine we'll get far."

"Yes, General."

Barely seconds after his reply, they were able to move out of the way and went into hyperspace. Sulani could not help but wish she had not needed to wake up this morning. It figures something like this would happen as soon as she came out here.

Ahsoka was standing beside her ailing Master, she could not believe that he was in this condition; he was usually so lucky. She was so worried, but also so conflicted; these emotions were not the Jedi way and yet she could not help but feel them. It was at this moment that Master Secura walked into the room, "I need you with Commander Bly up on the bridge right now."

"I should stay," Ahsoka insisted. "Commander Bly doesn't need my help, Anakin does."

"You can help Anakin by getting this ship to safety," Aayla persuades her.

Ahsoka had barely any time to think about what to do when Bly opened the door, "General Secura, we have a problem."

"What is it Commander?" she quickly asks.

He answers her while walking into the room, "In our haste to escape, the navicomputer's coordinates were inputted incorrectly," he turns on the display screen to enhance his next words, "and, well, we're headed right for a star. General Kenobi asked me to get you immediately."

With those words, the three of them quickly ran to the bridge, leaving the medical droid to care for Anakin. Upon entering the bridge, they saw Mother Sulani standing behind Rex who was trying to work on the circuits, "Oh thank the Force you're here; I have no idea how to stop this."

Without hesitation, Ahsoka runs over to the pilot seat; Rex and Sulani coming to stand behind her. Bly sat in the co-pilot seat, fiddling with the controls before slamming a fist down on them, "It's no use, the navigations computer is completely fried."

Aayla on the other hand had an idea, "Shut down all power circuits to reset the coordinates."

Ahsoka realised the one problem with that, "That will cut off Anakin's life support!"

"I don't like it any more than you do, but it's a risk we're going to have to take."

"She's right Ahsoka," Sulani says in the hopes to reassure her, "Anakin will be fine, you must believe that."

Realising they really had no other choice, Ahsoka gets ready, "We're switching off all primary power units."

"We're cutting it awfully close," Bly could not help but point out.

Aayla was over by the switch getting ready to pull it down, "Ready to shut off auxiliary power."

Sulani on the other hand was bracing herself, because she knew what happened when a ship had no power; no artificial gravity.

On Ahsoka's count of three, the power was shut down and the ship fell out of hyperspace rather violently, unfortunately, they were still on course with the sun being caught in its gravitational pull.

"We're out of hyperspace," Commander Bly calls out, "resume all power."

Unfortunately, the handle Rex was holding gives out and he knocks Aayla away from the auxiliary switch. "Switch the power back on! What are you waiting for?"

Commander Bly clearly had not noticed the situation, but he was not wrong as they were getting closer and closer to the sun. Seeing the problem, Sulani helped Aayla use the Force to push the switch back into the right position. With the power back on, Rex and Aayla fall back down to the floor, Sulani only managing to be semi-stable as she had not lost hold of her chair handle. Ahsoka is able to steer the ship away from the sun, barely missing it, unfortunately, the turbulence and their momentum was not in their favour.

"Well," Ahsoka starts, "we're not gonna crash into the star, but we're definitely going to hit that planet."

Sulani regained her hold on her chair handle again, bracing herself for something a lot worse than lack of gravity. The ship crashed into the ground, rattling everyone inside including, no doubt, Anakin in the medbay.

Rex was able to kick a panel away, calling for everyone to get out; Sulani made sure all the clones were out before following. Ahsoka and Aayla were close behind with Anakin; just in time too, because the ship exploded behind them. While placing Anakin down between them, Aayla spoke up in relief, "Well, we made it, and Master Skywalker is still alive."

"I'm just glad he wasn't awake to see that landing," Ahsoka says, also in relief.

"He would have been proud."

Sulani was proud of her also, they may have crashed, but she was able to keep them from crashing into something a lot worse than a planet.

"I've certainly perfected the art of demolishing ships and almost getting my Master killed."

After a few more minutes of calming down, the group quickly made camp, making a small tented area for Anakin to rest under.

A/N: And here is another chapter where Sulani is way more involved than before. As usual, it continues into the next chapter, rest of the AN is there.

Seza, out.