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Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I only own the OC Jayden Shan.
"I never thought I'd hear lord Jabba say that," Palpatine murmured as the holomessage repeated in a shimmering blue loop. TC-70, Jabba's droid, delivered the appeal for help to find Rotta while his master looked on, blinking and swaying slightly, clearly agitated. "He must be in enormous distress to ask for outside help." The Chancellor looked around at the Jedi assembled in his office to gauge their reaction. He could feel it, but it was always interesting to watch their little physical tells-the frowns, the twitches, the slight lifts of the shoulders- that hinted at the anxieties within.
Mace Windu stroked his chin, grim and unmoved. The man never looked so much as even slightly satisfied with his life. The others-Plo Koon, Luminara Unduli, Bolla Ropal-seemed to be leaving it to him to say what was on all their minds. Nobody was rushing to Jabba's aid.
Palpatine nudged gently for a reaction. "A suitable job for Jedi. Nothing can be hidden from you for long, after all." Except me, of course. Even now, after all these years of delicately careful planning, he had moments when the ease with which he moved undetected among them as a Sith Lord made him pause and marvel. You don't deserve to be the guardians of the galaxy, do you? "Come along, Master Windu, what's the problem?"
Windu leaned back in his seat. "It'll be a sorry day for the Republic when we divert resources to helping criminal scum."
"Harsh words, my friend. But I'm sure he speaks highly of you, too..."
"Chancellor, Jabba probably knows who's done this-no doubt some other gangster he's crossed." Windu's tone wasn't exactly serene. "He's never shied from kidnapping as a tactic himself. Why would he ask us? And why should we divert Jedi to a basic police task when there's a war to fight?"
"Because it's right, Master Windu." Palpatine had no real need to leap to the moral high ground, but it amused him to do it and labor the point. Such blind spots, Jedi. This is how I shall remember you when you're long gone- unable to see what was right before your eyes, from me to your own duty. "A child is missing. If it were a human child, would we be having this conversation? Does the parent's lifestyle have any bearing on the child's plight? Or do Hutt parents not feel the same grief that we do?"
"Would we be having this conversation," Windu said, not rising to the bait, "if the human child's father was the head of Black Sun?"
"We would, if he could deliver this." Palpatine sat down and activated a holochart. It hovered above his desk, a complex web of lines and clusters of light representing the major points of the known galaxy. He tapped the control to remove layers of detail, and entire star systems and planets winked out of existence-so
The threads were hyperspace routes. And they were all controlled by the Hutts.
Windu looked like a granite monument to disapproval. Eventually, he tilted his head slightly to one side. "I still feel uneasy. There'll be more to this than a simple ransom demand or a settling of scores. I sense it."
Palpatine allowed himself a sad smile, with just the right blend of I-share- your-concern and you-know-I'm-right. "You might not like doing deals with the Hutt, Master Windu, but these are trying times, and we can't be too exacting in our qualification requirements for allies. As long as they help more than they hinder, that has to be good enough for us. This Hutt has control of the hyperspace access we need to move troops and materiel to the Outer Rim, and we have the expertise to find the unfindable. Mutual advantage."
"I still say there's more going on here than a simple kidnapping. It's a sting of some kind, knowing Jabba."
"I didn't realize you were that well acquainted."
"Based on his track record..."
"Then you need to put as many Jedi on this case as you can... based on his track record."
"Chancellor, that's impossible. We're at overstretch. I have no Jedi to spare."
"And our troops will be spread even more thinly if we can't reach the Outer Rim and keep a resupply chain functioning."
"I'm inclined to agree with the Chancellor," said Unduli. She'd been totally silent until then. "Regardless of the reasons for this kidnapping, we have to negotiate with Jabba, and this would give us an excellent bargaining position."
"A win-win, as you might call it," Palpatine said quietly, in almost a whisper. "Save a child, and save our army."
Windu was silent again for a few moments, then spread his hands in reluctant concession. "Kenobi and Skywalker have just taken Christophsis. The planet's largely secured, so if anyone can be redeployed, it's them."
"Very well, send them," said Palpatine. "I'll contact Lord Jabba and reassure him."
The Jedi stood and bowed their heads politely, almost synchronized. Palpatine returned the nod and watched them file out of his office. In a few moments, he'd open a comlink to Jabba and set the wheels in motion.
"Lord Jabba, you have our sympathies. You must be beside yourself with worry."
Windu had a point, even if he didn't know it. "Why would Jabba expose his weakness like that so conveniently? Dooku would have to exercise appropriate caution. We'll put our best people on it, Lord Jabba..."
Jabba's plea saved time in the plan to take one more potential ally away from the Jedi, once they were suitably incriminated, of course. In the longer run, it was also one of the finely balanced thrusts and counterthrusts that would keep the war in an uneasy balance until everything was in position, until the Jedi were in just the right state of vulnerability, and Palpatine could choose to end the war-and with it the Jedi Order itself.
Fascinating, how they didn't jump into action when they heard the child is missing. He really is: Dooku's made sure of it. Jabba might be corrupt, but the child... he's still an innocent. Fascinating... how the social acceptability of the parent affects the willingness to aid the child.
They were very selective, these Jedi, about where they focused their legendary compassion.
Palpatine hoped nothing went wrong and that the Huttlet was returned unharmed when he'd served his purpose. Rotta was, after all, another very long-term potential ally in his plan.
But if anything happened to the poor thing-ah, here he was, falling into the platitude trap of being a politician, lies repeated so often that they eventually persuaded even the speaker that he meant what he said, and had done no wrong.
There were always innocent casualties of war, but war still had to be fought. And Jabba would be even more firmly in the anti-Republic camp if anything happened to his son.
Fascinating and... yes, still strange occasionally to play both sides of this game as if I want each to win.
Palpatine opened the comlink on his desk. "I want to speak to Lord Jabba," he said. "This is the Chancellor of the Republic."
Christophsis
The battle of Christophsis was quite stressing and tiring, even for two Jedi like Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. First they had to deal with a Clone Trooper turning on them, Asajj Ventress making her appearance and battling the two Jedi, and that was followed by the droid invasion on the planet.
And now, all out war had consumed the planet. The strife that had slowly enveloped the galaxy had finally come here. It was a war between men and machines.
The fighting was relentless and the toll it was taking was beginning to show. Anakin and Obi-Wan both knew that they needed to break the Separatist lines sooner or later… with or without reinforcements. The job was tough, as they had learned over the past several months of fighting. The Separatists weren't going to make things easy on them and had every intention of winning this war one way or another.
The sudden retreat of the droid army was an unexpected boon that they welcomed wholeheartedly, the war machines suddenly faltering in the face of heavy cannonfire. And then their luck changed for the better, something Anakin heard before he felt it. It was a very distinctive sound, pure music. He looked up at the same moment Obi-Wan did, and what he saw was possibly even more wonderful than it sounded. It was so arresting that he almost missed the droids up ahead doing a sudden, crisp about-turn and marching away again.
An armed Republic shuttle banked above the street and veered off toward the plaza.
Anakin turned to Kenobi, trying to look unmoved. He wanted to cheer. But it wasn't a very Jedi thing to do. "They're pulling back, Master. Looks like the reinforcements have made them see sense. Come on, let's give them a proper welcome."
"If help has arrived then our cruiser must be back." Obi-Wan surmised, exuding energy. He wiped the back of his glove across his mouth, smearing dust and droid oil across his beard. The wretched automatons scattered debris and fluids for meters when hit. As always, he seemed invigorated by a fight. Anakin wondered if he had those frenzied killing moments too. Kenobi hooked his lightsaber to his belt and jogged toward the plaza, where they'd set up a landing area.
"Which means we'll be able to get our reinforcements." Anakin concluded as they made to greet the arriving craft. Anakin's astromech, Artoo, rolled along beside them and offered a few whistles of his own remarks.
"Then it looks like our problems are solved. Fresh troops, new supplies, and perhaps they brought my new Padawan with them." Obi-Wan mused, sounding hopeful. Anakin's stomach sank a little. A dead weight. It distracted him from his brush with darkness and he seized it. A change of problem really was as good as a rest.
"This isn't the time or the place to train a Padawan, Master. They're a liability."
"Oh, I don't know. You weren't. Most of the time, anyway…" Obi-Wan trailed off, showing the barest hint of a smirk beneath his moustache.
"Most?" Anakin retorted, arching a brow.
"The best way to learn is on the job, after all. I spoke to Master Yoda about it," Obi-Wan replied, "you should put in a request for one, too. You'd make a good teacher." He suggested.
Anakin scoffed. "No, thanks."
"Anakin, teaching is a privilege. And it's part of a Jedi's responsibility to help train the next generation." Obi-Wan chastised.
"A Padawan would just slow me down." Anakin retorted, firm on the matter. The gunship touched down between two cannon emplacements, and the ramp went down.
Walking down the ramp was a female Togruta youngling, much to the surprise of the two older Jedi.
"A youngling?" Obi-Wan said with surprise while Anakin frowned. Great. Just what they needed, a youngling with no experience and would most likely slow them down.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Anakin asked aloud. Artoo tweeted his own explanation, something he'd been informed about beforehand. The little Togruta drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't saying much, and craned her neck to look up at Kenobi.
"I'm Ahsoka." She answered in a chipper tone. "Master Yoda was worried that you hadn't reported in, and he couldn't reach you, so he sent me with a message."
"Sent you?" Kenobi repeated. "So where's the cruiser? Where are our reinforcements? Our support?"
"The ship dropped me off. Master Yoda wants you to return to the Temple right away. There's an emergency." Ahsoka replied.
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're in a bit of an emergency right here." Anakin retorted brashly and gestured over his shoulder at the palls of smoke still rising into the air.
"Our communications have been a bit unreliable." Obi-Wan explained, his tone more calmer than his frustrated Apprentice. "But we've been calling for help."
"Master Yoda hadn't heard from you, so he sent me to relay the message." Ahsoka told them, trying to hide a sense of giddiness at standing before Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. She's heard so much about them both, and couldn't wait to learn under the Chosen One himself.
Anakin huffed with more frustration as he turned away from them, throwing his arms up. "Great, they don't even know we're in trouble!" He had hoped to sneak away and have a private chat with Padme, just to reassure her he was alright and to see how she was. Now he had to face this problem.
"Maybe you can relay a signal through the cruiser that just dropped me off." Ahsoka suggested, thinking quickly. Her notion took the two by surprised, and for a brief moment they were unanimously impressed by her ingenuity.
After some fiddling with the equipment and some extra effort on behalf of the cruiser above the planet, Anakin and Obi-Wan finally managed to get through to the Jedi Temple, half a galaxy away on Coruscant. A holographic render of Yoda appeared before them on the holotable, "Master Kenobi, glad Ahsoka found you, I am." He greeted.
"Master Yoda, we are trapped here and vastly outnumbered. We are in no position to go anywhere or do anything." Obi-Wan grimly replied. "Our support ships have all been destroyed."
"Send reinforcements to you, we will." Yoda promised. Anything further he had to say was promptly lost to garbled static, the communication lost as the cruiser above came under heavy fire from the Separatist cruisers attacking it. The Grandmaster's image was soon replaced by the Communications officer from the cruiser.
"We've lost the transmission sir. We have to leave orbit immediately, more enemy ships have just arrived." He informed them. "We'll get back to you as soon as we can." The promise lingered as his signal cut out, the Jedi left in further silence.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to hold out a little longer." Anakin grumbled. He hated it when things didn't go his way. Obi-Wan offered a sympathetic shrug before his gaze returned to Ahsoka.
"My apologies, young one. It's high time for a proper introduction." He told her. Straightening up and doing her best to look presentable, the Togruta went first.
"I'm the new Padawan learner. I'm Ahsoka Tano." Nodding in acceptance, Obi-Wan followed suit.
"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi, your new master." Ahsoka raised one of her brow markings, suggestion confusion.
"I'm at your service, Master Kenobi, but I'm afraid I've actually been assigned to Master Skywalker." She replied.
Anakin's eyes widened as he immediately backed up a step. "What? No, no, no. There must be some kind of mistake. He's the one who wanted a Padawan." He pointed to Obi-Wan.
The Jedi master was about to say something when Ahsoka cut in with a frown on her face. "No. Master Yoda was very specific. I'm assigned to Anakin Skywalker and he is to supervise my Jedi training."
Obi-Wan couldn't help but give Anakin a slight smirk, especially after hearing his Apprentice's remarks about how the war was no place for a Padawan. he'll admit, though not to Anakin directly, he couldn't wait to see how Anakin did with being a Master and teaching a Padawan.
Anakin still didn't seem too keen or wanting of his new predicament as he started to speak. "But that doesn't make any sense-"
"We'll have to sort this out later." Obi-Wan cut in. They still had a job to do after all, and that was to ensure the Separatists were completely gone from this planet and that it remained in the Republic. Now wasn't the time to bicker or deal with Anakin's refusal about Ahsoka being his Padawan. "It won't be long before those droids figure out a way around our cannons."
Anakin huffed and rolled his eyes as he turned to walk away. "I'll check on Rex in the lookout post."
Obi-Wan glanced at Ahsoka who still had a frown on her face, most likely at the way Anakin was treating her and he felt sympathetic for the girl. This was becoming all-too familiar to him, as he remembered something similar when the Jedi Council didn't want Anakin to be trained as a Jedi. And now, Anakin clearly didn't want a Padawan for him to teach.
He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder as he spoke to Anakin before he could be out of hearing range. "You better take her with you."
Anakin paused mid-step and barely glanced at his Master, who could sense his annoyance at this whole thing, but Anakin just walked on and Ahsoka soon followed.
Teth
Teth was a jungle planet located in Wild Space. At some point, the world was inhabited by the B'omarr Order. However, not long ago, just as the Clone Wars began, their castles were abandoned, though some would be converted by the Hutts into formidable strongholds. Some distance from the B'omarr monasteries.
It was one of these abandoned monasteries that Jayden Shan brought Jabba the Hutt's son to and left him in one of the cells in order to get away from the crying and whining. Little slug should be grateful they needed him alive, or Jayden would've done the kid a favour and ended his miserable existence. The Sith Apprentice of Count Dooku walked down the long hallway and soon came to join his fellow Apprentice and student of Dooku, Asajj Ventress.
To describe Jayden and Ventress' relationship, it's along the lines of mutual respect with a sort of but not sort of friendly rivalry going on.
"Is the Huttlet secure?" Ventress asked, sensing Jayden's approach and turned to him.
Jayden, clad in hi red attire and Revan's mask over his face, nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "He is. Little slug wouldn't stop his crying."
"Patience, dear Jayden." Ventress said with an amused smile at sensing Jayden's annoyance, which was directed at the Huttlet, now she can sense it being directed at her a little. "Soon the plan will come together. Speaking of, I believe it is time we inform our Master of the Huttlet being brought here."
Jayden grunted and nodded. Ventress gestured for a droid to come fourth and a holoprojector soon activated, with a hologram of Count Dooku being projected in front of his two Apprentices.
"Jayden, Asajj, report." The Count ordered.
"The Huttlet has been brought to the abandoned monastery on Teth. He will be... safe here with us." Jayden said, a brief pause when saying the Huttlet would be 'safe' with them. The kid's in danger in their company than he is safe.
Dooku nodded with a small, pleased smile. "Good. Everything is going as planned."
"Yes, my lord." Ventress said with a cold smile. Suddenly, she and Jayden sensed a darker, more sinister presence arrive and they quickly fell to a knee as the mysterious, hooded form of Darth Sidious walked into place next to Dooku.
"Soon, the Jedi will not only be at war with you, Count, but the Hutt clan as well." Sidious cackled with a grin under his hood...
And I think I'll end this one here. Not much of Jayden, I know, but I am trying to focus on both Jayden and Ahsoka, rather than just Jayden.
DFM23 is a big help to the making of this story. We're doing a mix of both the novelisation and the 2008 film, so if anyone sees something that didn't make it into the film, it's because it's from the novelisation, which I think is what DFm23 took as well, so if anyone sees similarities between this story and Rise of the Wraith, it's because we're using the novel version of the Clone Wars movie.
But DFM23 has said it was okay if there was some similarities between our stories.
