Chapter 23 - That's One Ugly Bug
It was no surprise that the two weary Padawans would be returning to the cruisers to recuperate, Sulani had decided to accompany them before she returned to the Negotiator as that was going to be the base of operations while Obi-Wan comes back to the surface to help Master Luminara find Poggle the Lesser. All the cruisers had touched ground, but the two Padawans were going to be aboard the Resolute to rest.
Rex was seeing them off, and just before getting on the gunship, Ahsoka turned to face him, "Sorry to leave you here Rex. There's still a lot to do."
"You two have done enough destroying that factory," he says, "Go get some rest. We'll let General Kenobi, uh," he threw a look Sulani's way, "the other General Kenobi take it from here."
"We'll be back before you know it, Captain Rex," Barriss assures him.
The command clone informed them they were ready so the three Jedi get aboard and return to the ships above. Sulani turned to face Ahsoka and Barriss, "I'm very proud of you Ahsoka and how you handled yourself, and Barriss, I feel I can speak for your own Guardian Mother when I say she would be proud of you as well. The two of you were readily willing to sacrifice yourselves in order to destroy that factory, showing a level of courage and bravery hard to find in most these days. You do your Masters and the Order proud by what you have done today."
The two Padawans share a look before bowing to her, "Thank you for your kind words Mother Sulani," they say in tandem.
"So I am pleased to know that you both will be taking that well earned break from the battle," she says to them, "if you push yourselves too hard, it is all too easy for you to break in more ways than one."
They both look relieved to be taking the break as well, despite their words of wanting to assist, they were too tired to do much more. Sulani nodded in approval, "And also, I truly hope I never have to witness either one of you trying to sacrifice yourselves again, there is only so much my poor heart can take girls."
They do not bother responding, only sharing a knowing look with each other while smiling.
Sulani had been happy to meet back up with her brother, triple checking each other's health as soon as they saw each other. They were both entering the meeting room off the bridge when they saw Master Mundi waiting for them, "What's this?" Obi-Wan says jokingly, "I didn't expect to find you up and about."
"After enough time in a bacta tank, one longs for the mundane comfort of star charts," Master Mundi replies.
"It seems like it did you some good," Obi-Wan points out, "your wound looks almost healed."
"I wish I could say the same for most of my men," Master Mundi says solemnly.
"Yes, we have lost an unfortunate amount of troopers this day," Sulani says as she mourns the clones they had lost.
"Well, let's make sure we don't have to take Geonosis a third time," Obi-Wan says. "Poggle's forces seem to have come from the Northern Hemisphere."
It was then that he brought up a holo-image of the planet, Master Mundi then asking, "And where was Master Unduli's last contact made from?"
"This region farther to the West," Obi-Wan says, indicting the place on the map, "but there's nothing out there according to our latest intel."
This was when a clone came over towards them, "Generals, there is an incoming transmission from General Unduli."
"Very well, patch it through," Obi-Wan says.
"Yes sir."
As they all gather around the holo-table, the image of Master Luminara appears, "Do you have something Master?" Obi-Wan asks her.
"Yes, we found something," she says, "it appears to be a munitions container of some kind."
"It could just be debris," Master Mundi suggests.
"I don't think so," she answers back, "There was no battle in this area."
They then hear the clone with Master Luminara speak up, "It looks like Poggle was on a direct course, eleven mark seventy-two, that way."
"Headed directly for the Progate Temple," Master Luminara added for those who were not there.
"That makes no sense," Master Mundi says, "Nothing in the temple could have survived the munitions we used in the first wave of our attack. Why would he risk exposure to go there?"
"I'm not yet sure. Perhaps he doesn't realise the extent to which we cleared that area," Master Luminara theorises.
Anakin then joins them at the table, "Master Luminara, I'm tracking a sandstorm that's heading your way."
"No matter," she says, "Poggle is out in the open and I intend to grab him before he can get offworld."
"I advise against it," Master Mundi, "You might get lost in the storm."
"Then we'd have to find both you and Poggle," Obi-Wan adds.
"I have to agree Master," Sulani cuts in, "I sense a great disturbance in the Force at present, I cannot say for certain if it refers to your current task or something else, but I'm concerned non-the-less."
"I feel it is a risk worth taking," Master Luminara says, "I'm sorry Mother, but without anything conclusive from you, I'm going to have to continue regardless. I hope you can understand."
Sulani sighs, but nods in agreement as Master Mundi says, "As you wish."
Master Luminara then ends the call from her end, leaving a room full of concerned Jedi Generals.
The sandstorm was howling outside, making vision non-existent, and the atmosphere inside the room tense. Anakin was staring out the window, despite being able to see absolutely nothing. His thoughts turned to Master Luminara before he turned to face the others, "What could be taking her so long? Something must have happened."
"Patience, Skywalker," Master Mundi says, "It's a delicate operation, I'm sure we'll have more information soon."
He nods, but then he remembers Sulani and her position by the communications console. She was visibly tense as she too watched the storm rage outside, though she appeared to be looking, but not seeing. He turned back to Master Mundi, "I understand Master, but it's hard to be patient when I look at Mother. She's so obviously tense and in my experience, whenever Mother is tense, things don't go well."
"Don't use me as an excuse to be impatient Anakin," she says gently, then turns his way, "As I said earlier, I'm not sure where the disturbance is coming from, it could be Master Luminara, it could be any number of things."
"Doesn't make me any less worried," he says.
"I must admit, I am troubled we haven't heard from her," Obi-Wan adds as they turn away from the holo-table.
"Let's not start worrying yet," Master Mundi says, "Luminara is not one to take unnecessary risks."
They had not gone far from the table when Master Luminara contacted them again, but the signal was glitchy, "Master Kenobi, we tracked Poggle to the Progate Temple, but now there's no sign of him."
"Go no further until we can send support," Obi-Wan says, "the storm is making things difficult. We can barely read your transmission as it is."
"Are you sure he went into the temple?" Master Mundi asks.
"Yes, we saw him enter, but I think he's gone down into the catacombs below," she answers.
"Those catacombs go on for miles," Obi-Wan says, "I fear we may have lost him. Get yourself out of there."
That's when the sound of the clone with Master Luminara started screaming, she herself drawing her lightsaber, "Master Unduli," Obi-Wan calls as her signal disappears, "Master Unduli."
Sulani had stood quickly as soon as the scream had been heard, Master Mundi calmly stated, "We've lost the connection."
Anakin immediately started walking away, "Where are you going?" Obi-Wan asks him.
"Take a guess," Anakin asks as he half turns back to face his Master.
"We'll never get to her in this storm," Obi-Wan tries to reason, "The gunships can't handle it."
"We can't wait," Anakin insists, then turns to Sulani, "Mother, what are you feeling?"
Sulani had been trying to sense more, she really had been, "I'm sorry Anakin, but other than the disturbance feeling stronger, I can't tell you in any certainty what is going on."
"I'm sorry Skywalker," Master Mundi says, "We have no choice. We must be patient and trust in Master Unduli."
"We'll leave as soon as the storm lifts," Obi-Wan assures Anakin.
Anakin had nothing to use to argue any further, realising that the two Jedi Masters were right, they would have to wait. Though Sulani was worried, would they have enough time to do anything when the storm finally lifted?
When the storm finally did clear, they wasted no time in setting out for the Progate Temple to find Master Luminara. Anakin and Obi-Wan were leading a squad of clones, Sulani was really just tagging along. The two male Jedi walked in front, the clones behind them in two lines while Sulani took up the rear of the group. "Stay alert, everyone," Obi-Wan says.
"Spread out and look around men," Anakin orders.
As the clones did this, Sulani walked over to stand beside her brother, watching the clones move about. Cody appeared to find something as he called out to them. The three quickly run over to find out what it was and they find him leaning over a fallen clone, "Buzz is dead."
"Any sign of Luminara?" Anakin asks.
"No sir."
Obi-Wan looked around before speaking, "There was a struggle."
No one says anything and Obi-Wan continues to move around, Sulani watches as he runs over to pick something up. Her and Anakin race over to see it is Master Luminara's lightsaber. "This is not a good sign," Obi-Wan says. "Luminara's lightsaber."
He hands it over to Anakin as he says the last part. "Poggle didn't do this," Anakin realises, he then looks up, "but maybe that did."
Sulani looks to where he was staring to see a statuette above a doorway, it looked like some different Geonosian she had never seen before. "That is one ugly bug," Cody unnecessarily adds.
"I haven't seen one that looks like that before," Anakin says.
"I don't believe anyone has," Obi-Wan adds, "it could be the Geonosian queen."
"The bugs have a queen?" Anakin asks in disbelief.
"Hmm, rumoured," Obi-Wan says, "but we haven't found any proof of her existence."
"Until now."
Sulani was getting a really bad feeling about this place, and she unknowingly took a few steps away from the entrance to the unknown. Anakin noticed first, "Mother, are you alright?"
She did not answer and continued to stare at the image of what may be the Geonosian queen, but her silence disquieted her companions, "Su? Are you okay?"
When she still did not answer, Anakin went over and grabbed her shoulder, this startled her enough to jump in place, causing Anakin to remove his hand quickly, "It's okay Mother, it's just me, you weren't answering us. Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry Ani, yes, I'm…I'm okay," she says quietly enough that they almost struggle to hear her.
"Is there something about this place that gives you a bad feeling?" Obi-Wan asks.
"All of it," she says, her eyes piercing through his.
This concerned both Anakin and Obi-Wan who shared a look, coming to the same conclusion, "Alright Mother," Anakin starts, "you can stay here with a couple of clones, you don't need to go down there."
"Thank you Anakin," she says, "I would very much like to never go down there. However, I want the two of you to promise you'll be careful in there."
"We will," Obi-Wan says, "nothing like your reactions to places gives me more caution."
"Good," is all she has left to say on the matter as her gaze turns back to the statuette.
Realising no more would be said on the matter, Obi-Wan turns to the clones, "This way."
"Come on then, let's move," Cody says to the rest.
Sulani turns her head to watch them enter the catacombs, Anakin and Obi-Wan leading them with their now lit lightsabers. She could only prey to the Force that nothing would happen to them.
This place felt so unnatural and Sulani was beginning to realise that this was why she disliked it so much. Every time she thought of the possibility of going in there to assist them, something inside her protested strongly. She had never felt anything like it before and it made her, dare she say it, it made her afraid. She had been waiting for some time and she had not heard from them since they entered the tunnels, she was beginning to worry.
That's when she felt it, the spike in fear coming from the clones and the alarm coming from both Anakin and Obi-Wan. She lifted her communicator, "Obi-Wan? Can you hear me?" She waited for some time and when he did not reply, "Anakin? Are you there?" Still, nothing, "Anyone?"
Their signals must be jammed, or there is no way no one would be answering. This just made her even worried, she did not like being out of contact. She headed for the entrance, determined to find them and help. However, it was not meant to be as she halted right outside the arch, her feet would not move. She willed herself to move, but still, something about the entire place disconcerted her and she could not even force herself down there.
Eventually, she stopped trying and her body allowed her to move, but only because she was moving away from the tunnel entrance. Why? In all her years, never has she been unable to control her own body, but clearly the Force did not think it wise for her to go down there. She could only wait.
After more tense waiting, she was beginning to think something bad had happened, but then she felt it as the ground began to shake. Clearly something was going on down there, the usual destruction that happens when Anakin is nearby. She was watching the entrance again, hoping they'll be running through there in no time. Though when she started hearing shouting and blaster fire, it was definitely coming from somewhere else.
She looked around, trying to find the source of the noise when she noticed a hole in the ground. She ran over and removed the lid, sure enough, when she looked down, she saw them starting to climb out. Luminara was in the lead and Sulani was ever glad that she appeared unharmed. That is when she saw what it was they were escaping from, they looked like Geonosians, but something was off, that unnatural feeling from earlier was feeling stronger now than ever. Her brother almost got knocked off the wall, but thankfully Master Luminara caught him as those things were climbing now as well. The tunnels were beginning to collapse, "Quickly, you don't have much time," she shouted down to them.
They did not need any such push as they climbed as fast as they could. Sulani moved her head away from the hole as dust started coming up in a cloud. It was strong enough that they were all pushed out of the tunnels with enough force to lift them in the air, it also pushed open every other hole on the ground. Sulani was glad she had moved out of the way or she would have been pushed back painfully. They all managed to land on their feet, with the exception of poor Cody, and Sulani raced over to her brother. He gave her a confused look as she placed both hands on his face, holding him, knowing he was very much alive and okay, "Su? Is everything alright?"
She looked up at him, then finally removed her hands, "Yes, I'm alright, I'm just glad you're alright. This place, it felt so wrong, so unnatural. I couldn't even will myself to enter in after you, my body just wouldn't move."
"That would be because all the Geonosians down there were already dead, that would be the unnatural feeling you had," he explained.
"What? The undead?"
"Yes," he says, "the queen was using a sort of worm to take control of their minds, she was going to try and do that with Master Luminara."
"So they do have a queen?" she asks.
"Well, they did have a queen," Anakin throws in, "she's now buried under all that rubble."
Speaking of rubble, the temple was starting to collapse around them, "Let's discuss this later shall we," Master Luminara calls.
They all then proceed to run out of the building, dodging any falling rocks as best they could. When they got far enough away, they turned back around to watch the last of the pillars fall across the entrance and the dust begin to settle.
"All things considered," Anakin begins, turning to face his Master, "that went better than I expected."
"I wish we could have gotten one of those worms," Obi-Wan counters, "Knowing how the queen controls her minions could have proven valuable."
"Well, hopefully the secret is buried with her," Anakin says.
Sulani could only agree, nothing that warped the natural flow of the Force was something that should be running rampant in the galaxy.
A/N: so here is part 4, so we're nearing the end of this arc, hurray. For the first time in her life, Sulani's body would not respond when she wanted to go somewhere, and why? Because I had already written a ton for this arc and it wasn't over yet, Sulani did not need to give me more content by going everywhere haha. Also, I think the whole unnaturalness of the place would effect anyone as sensitive in the Force as she is, so it fits anyway. One more chapter left in the arc, so
Seza, out