Chapter 18 - A Bond Between Master and Apprentice is Too Strong to Ignore

Ahsoka was ready to go, she had changed into something more fitting for this mission and everything was in place. Her and her Master were on top of one of the walkers, waiting for the Admiral to release them above the enemy frigate. That's when she felt something strange, coming from her bond with Mother Sulani. Anakin noticed her stumble, "What's the matter?"

"I…I don't know, I felt a pull from Mother," she explains, frowning in confusion.

Anakin was about to answer when Admiral Yularen started speaking to them, "General Skywalker, I am not sure what happened, but General Kenobi just fainted. She had been in pain and she mentioned something about General Ropal being tortured by Cad Bane."

"She what?" Ahsoka shouted at the same time that Anakin asked, "Was that exactly what she said?"

Yularen ignored Ahsoka in favour of answering Anakin, "Yes General, the first time she only stumbled and recovered rather quickly. However, the second time she actually verbalised her pain and then fainted. It was after the first time that she mentioned that she could feel that General Ropal was being tortured, though I'm unsure why this caused her to pass out."

"You're right Admiral, that should not have been enough for her to pass out, and this has me worried," Anakin says, "this mission has become a lot more pressing. Admiral, release the walkers and let's get this moving. The faster we get this over with, the faster we save Master Ropal and check up on Mother Sulani."

"Of course, General."

Ahsoka hardly noticed when the cargo doors opened and they lowered towards the enemy ship, all she could focus on was that her Mother had passed out. Anakin could feel her emotions coming through their bond, "Ahsoka," he called, waiting for her to look his way before he continued, "I'm worried about her too Snips, but if we want to make sure she's okay, we need to focus on finishing this mission first."

"Right, Master," she said back half-heartedly.

So she focused, as best she could, as they headed down towards the enemy frigate. As soon as the walkers landed, they started firing on the turrets and the droids on top. When they released vultures droids, Anakin and Ahsoka needed to repel the blaster fire more than they already were. The pair of them leapt into the air, landing before the vulture droids, and start to take out their legs. They deal with two of the droids this way rather quickly. They pressed their way forward, dealing with the droids as the clones came up from behind, both on the ground and from the walkers. When they finally reach the hatch, Anakin calls for R2 to come and open it. Once R2 has opened it, Ahsoka and Anakin quickly jump in.

They encounter a large resistance of droids, fortunately, they were all battle droids which were easily handled by the two Jedi and their clone troopers. They stormed their way and found the bridge, basically blasting their way into the room. They ran in hastily and found the droids a little confused. They destroyed most of the droids and as they neared the one who was the commander, it pointed to another droid beside it, "Don't shoot, I'm not the commander! He's the commander."

A clone destroys the clone it had pointed at, the droid then says, "Guess I'm the commander now."

A clone promptly puts it out of its mechanical misery and they relax a little, Anakin turning to R2D2, "R2, see if you can find Master Ropal."

R2 quickly plugs himself into the system and starts searching, finding a recording of Bane, "One authentic Jedi holocron, and the memory crystal I was after."

"Oh, no," Ahsoka says, "he has both pieces now."

"Rex, send a squad," Anakin says as he turns to said captain, "Lock down the hangar bay and destroy all the escape pods. No one gets off this ship."

"Yes, sir," Rex salutes and then is on his way.

Ahsoka turns back to R2, "R2, you have to find Master Ropal. Hurry!"

R2 beeps and gets backs to it, but then the whole ship shakes, and they can just hear Rex behind them ask about it. The ship continued to shake as something was clearly blowing up, and then Anakin got a hail from Admiral Yularen, "General Skywalker, one of the engines on that frigate has exploded. I caution you to avoid the aft section."

"How much damage is there?" Anakin asks.

"I suggest immediate evacuation."

"Not until we got what we came for," he replies.

They quickly made their way towards the brig, needing to reach the cell that held Master Ropal. Ahsoka reached it first and opened the door, walking in she easily saw him, "Master, I found him!"

Hearing her tone, he quickly ran over to see, it was clear Master Ropal was dead. Anakin turned to Rex, "Rex, have some men take Master Ropal back to the Resolute."

"We might not be able to find the holocron in time, Master," Ahsoka cuts in. "But if it's destroyed with the ship, Nute Gunray won't get it either."

"Maybe," he says, "but I'd rather return it to the library personally."

The ship then shook again, the lights flickering, Ahsoka reached out to pat R2's head, "Come on, R2."

As they walked away, they watched some clones leave with Master Ropal's body, and it made Ahsoka think of Mother Sulani, "I guess we now know what made Mother pass out, she probably felt it when Master Ropal died."

"Yeah, I thought that too," he agrees, "but I still don't understand how she was even able to feel Master Ropal like that anyway. They've never met as far as I can tell, she had never even heard of him before, so they don't have any kind of bond that could link them."

Ahsoka thought about it, it was true that a Jedi that had no connection to another Jedi would usually not be effected when the other was in pain or died. They would have to be meditating with their entire focus on that other Jedi to even know that they were in pain or dying. Maybe it had something to do with her disposition as a Guardian Mother, but that did not seem right either. She cannot say she ever saw her Mother like this in the year between the start of the clone wars and when she become a Padawan, many Jedi had died when it started, but she had not even reacted to any of those until she had heard about their deaths. However, now that she thought about, Mother was back on Coruscant when the clone wars had started, she had been nowhere near Geonosis, and she definitely had not been near any Jedi when they died during the battles until recently. She had been coming to the front often, but Ahsoka was realising that this was the first time a Jedi had died nearby.

Perhaps it was a mixture of her position as a Guardian Mother and her proximity to the pain Master Ropal was sending into the Force. She shared this theory with her Master.

"Hmm, you might be on to something Snips, but I can't say for sure if other Guardian Mothers would react the same," he said, fingers wrapped around his chin, "I have been thinking it for a while, but I think Mother Sulani might be one of the most powerful Guardian Mothers of the time. She has more correct gut feelings than I've seen in any Jedi before, and although she never talks about them, I know there have been visions she has had that were so accurate, they saved mine and Master Obi-Wan's life, even if she had not directly told us what would happen."

"Well I don't know Master, but what I do know is that I want this mission to be finished so that I can check on her."

"I know Snips," he said softly, "me too."

They then continued to follow behind R2 as the little droid lighted their way forward.

When Sulani opened her eyes, she felt mildly numb, not enough to stop her from sitting up, but certainly enough that she noticed. She had never experienced anything like it before, never before had she fainted from feeling the death of a Jedi, and certainly not one she did not even have a connection with. She took a look of her surroundings and found herself inside the medbay, no doubt the Admiral had asked a clone to get her down here. She had no idea how much time had passed, but she could sense that Anakin and Ahsoka were no longer on the ship, so they were most likely on the enemy frigate.

She allowed herself a few seconds before finally willing herself to stand. When she had managed that, she made her out of the medbay, which was unusually bereft of a medical droid. She slowly, but steadily made her way to the bridge, trying to look as dignified and put together as she could muster. As she walked the halls, clones that were going about their business saluted her and kept going. It was after several minutes that she finally reached her destination. When she entered, the command clones were working diligently and Admiral Yularen was by the communication console. As she made her way over, he noticed her and turned his attention towards her, "General Kenobi, I trust you are feeling better?"

"Much Admiral, it was a…shock to say the least, but the pain was not my own," she assured him, "though it is unfortunate that the cause of my, uh, episode, was the death of another."

"So then you are aware that General Ropal has passed," he gathered.

"Yes," she said, "that much I do know."

"I recently heard from General Skywalker that they have taken over the ship and are currently searching for Bane who has both the holocron and the memory crystal General Ropal had on his person. They have also retrieved General Ropal's body, a small group of clones have brought him back to the Resolute."

"Oh good, I'm glad they were able to get his body, we can give him a proper funeral back at the temple," she felt utter relief at the news, "have they had any luck finding Bane?"

"Not that I have heard, but we've been out of contact for several minutes while they search."

So Sulani decided to wait patiently with the Admiral as they waited for Anakin to call in with news. She could make out small blips in the Force whenever a clone was unfortunately killed, but other than that, nothing. She was waiting for almost fifteen minutes when she felt a shudder run up her spine, it felt like something had happened to Ahsoka, but she was not entirely sure. She wanted to contact her, but it was then that the enemy frigate started exploding in the rear. Her and Admiral Yularen shared a look before he contacted Anakin, "There's a power surge heading toward the bridge. If you're there, get out immediately. You must abandon your mission."

"I don't have the holocron memory," Anakin replies hesitantly, "and I seem to have misplaced my Padawan."

This caused Sulani to frown, "What do you mean you've misplaced your Padawan? Where is Ahsoka?"

"She ran off to follow Bane even though I told her it was a trap, he was able to separate us," he explained, "I felt her in pain for a small second, but I'm very worried right now."

"The ship is tearing itself apart," the Admiral cuts in.

"Move off to a safe distance, Admiral," Anakin says, "and await my signal for evacuation."

"Of all the Jedi, why did I have to end up with Skywalker?" Admiral Yularen said to himself, though Sulani tried very hard to pretend she had not just heard because she was sure she was not supposed to.

They watched as the power surge continued its way along the ship, getting closer and closer to the bridge. She felt another spike in Ahsoka's Force presence, she was in pain again. However, this time it was accompanied by the rise in Anakin's anger. It was subtle, but the more Ahsoka was in pain, the angrier he became. It was when they were finally in the same vicinity that something changed, Ahsoka's pain had turned to mild fear and Anakin's anger had turned to concern. Something was wrong, but she could not even begin to know what it was.

In the meantime, the explosions were getting worse and further along the ship. They were running out of time to get off and to safety. Admiral Yularen was starting to get worried and decides to contact Rex, "Captain, the main reactor is exposed, it will implode at any moment."

"Yes, sir," Rex grunts back with the sound of blaster fire in the background. "We're trying to make our way to the shuttle now."

"Get out of there," the Admiral orders.

"Sir, yes, sir."

All Sulani could do from here was wait, so wait she did, but she also noticed that Anakin and Ahsoka had not moved in the last few minutes. She was confused and really unsure what to make of the situation. Ahsoka was still partially afraid of something, but Anakin had resigned himself, for what reason she was not sure. Anakin would never give up in any situation, the only thing that could make him do that, would be if Ahsoka was in danger. Then it made sense, Bane must be threatening Anakin with Ahsoka's life, hence why she was afraid and he had been concerned. Sulani could only guess that what Bane wanted, was for Anakin to open the holocron. This did not bode well for the success of their mission, because she knew Anakin would do anything to make sure Ahsoka lived, even giving up on a mission, if only temporarily.

Admiral Yularen decided now would be a good time to do as Anakin had requested, "Come about, we need to put some distance between us and that frigate."

They continued to watch out the window as the Resolute was steered away from the frigate, hopefully out of range of the massive explosion it was about to create in space.

Then Sulani suddenly felt Ahsoka's fear spike exponentially, but a few seconds later it abated and both her and Anakin were feeling relief. That relief quickly changed to urgency as they needed to get off the ship. Sulani realised that now, with Ahsoka no longer being used against Anakin, they would both be fine.

"We're on our way Admiral," Anakin said through the communications, with perfect timing as she watched the whole ship go up in flames.

"We best go meet them in the hangar," Admiral Yularen says to her before making his way out.

The shuttle they had escaped on was just landing when Sulani and Yularen had entered the hangar. They waited off to the side as the ship opened its hatch and everyone started to unload. Anakin and Ahsoka got as far as the bottom of the ramp when they had a short conversation. Ahsoka looked a little bit upset about something, but it was quickly replaced with surprise after Anakin replied to whatever it is she had said. Anakin makes his way over to them and so the Admiral addresses him, "So, did you manage to recover the holocron or capture the bounty hunter?"

"Um," Anakin says so ineloquently, "no and no."

"I see," the Admiral says slowly, "so the mission was your usual version of success then?"

"If by success, you mean I won, then, yes," Anakin replies cheekily.

Yularen just grunts before walking away, Sulani does not bother watching him leave as Anakin's attention then turns to her, "Mother, Admiral Yularen told us that you had passed out earlier, are you okay?"

"I'm alright Anakin, truly, it was just a jarring experience," she assures him.

"If you're sure," he says, but she could tell he was a little skeptical.

Ahsoka chose this moment to come over, "Mother! You're okay, I was so worried, I felt when you passed out, but it wasn't until Admiral Yularen told us you had that I knew what it was. Are you sure everything is fine? Should you be moving around?"

"Ahsoka, calm down," Sulani says, her hands in a calming motion, "I'm fine, it was just a little shock from feeling Master Ropal die."

"That reminds me, so what now?"

"We get the injured to the medical bay," Anakin says.

"General," Rex calls from back over near the ship, "there's something I think you should see."

Anakin immediately started walking over, and Sulani joined him, leaving Ahsoka behind, she vaguely saw Ahsoka following after an injured clone. Rex directed Anakin over to something they could see on the floor, a green substance. "It's blood sir," Rex explains, "And it sure isn't from any of our men."

Anakin had bent over to inspect the liquid, touching it with his fingers to get a closer look. Anakin seemed to have a revelation of some kind before sprinting back out of the ship, Sulani followed close behind just as he turned towards Ahsoka. Sulani noticed she was still with that clone, but something seemed off. Anakin seemed to agree because he was running towards her, "Ahsoka!"

It was then that the clone, who Sulani had quickly deduced was not actually a clone, kneed Ahsoka in the stomach and ran. She fell to the ground as Anakin ran after the assailant. Sulani quickly ran to her side to assist her in standing back up and to check that she was okay. Cad Bane, and that's who it had to be she had realised, reached a ship, taking out the two personnel beside it while Anakin continued to chase him. He was just taking off when Anakin jumped onto the ship, trying to get it back down and reaching for Bane at the same time. He was able to pull off the bounty hunter's stolen clone trooper helmet before he had no choice but to jump off or risk dying in space as the ship exited the hangar.

She was running with Ahsoka to catch up with Anakin and they could just make out him calling to the Admiral to lock down the hyperspace rings. Unfortunately, Bane had already activated one, and while Anakin argued with the Admiral about getting those rings locked down, Bane had managed to connect with the ring. They were too late on locking down those rings, and everyone in the hangar watched as Bane escaped into hyperspace.

"We'll have to inform the Council," Anakin eventually says.

"Right," Sulani and Ahsoka say at the same time.

So they head off to the bridge in order to return to Coruscant.

The following day found the three of them in the High Council chamber, the members of the Council either present in person or as a hologram. Anakin and Ahsoka stood in the centre while Sulani was standing beside her brother's chair, something that had become the norm during her time working with the Council before she spent her time aboard the Resolute. Anakin had finished explaining the situation to the Council and everyone was quite perturbed, after all, this bounty hunter now had the list of all Force-sensitive children in the galaxy and he could read it. Obi-Wan was the first to speak, "It is most unfortunate Bane was allowed to escape again."

"With access to the names and locations of the most Force-sensitive children in the Republic," Master Windu added.

"Inflict devastating damage on the Jedi Order, he could," Master Yoda says.

"We've discovered Bane is working with the Separatists," Anakin says.

"There are thousands of children on that list," Obi-Wan points out, "which will he go after first?"

"Small chance there is, through the Force the Council may detect them," Master Yoda says.

A/N: part three of four of the stolen holocron arc is up, one more to go. Most of this chapter was events from the show, with the exception of a few parts, the next chapter will be the last in the arc, hurray, so look out for it. Again, I'll leave it at that since I have another chapter where I can say more coming up.
Seza, out