Chapter 17
Chapter 16
Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.
Chapter 16
On the Rancor’s Rage Andrew was piloting the ship towards Geonosis, he looked at Anakin who looked grim ever since they had got the message from Faith; they had been ordered to stay put but Padmé and Andrew weren’t having that.
They agreed to meet on Geonosis, as they drew closer Anakin walked into the hold where Andrew kept the holocrons, he activated Darth Traya’s holocron and asked, “How can I fight a Sith?”
Darth Traya looked almost amused and said, “Sith? Are you truly sure that you are going into battle with a Sith lord? He could be merely be a dark Jedi and that is a different story for Dark Jedi would believe they are no different from the Sith but understand what a Sith lord fully trained in the Sith ways can inflict great harm.”
Anakin growled, “How do they fight? Do they use the Force or what are their lightsaber styles?”
She sighed, “To the Sith the Force is a tool, nothing more. The lightsaber styles are similar to the Jedi though some Sith have great skill with the lightsaber, when they go into battle a rage consumes them.”
Andrew sighed, he had no idea what Anakin was doing in the hold as the only thing there was that creepy old holocron and he had only listened to it for a bit until he started to feel wrong from the lessons she was giving. He looked at Jolee’s holocron and sighed, if Count Dooku was a Dark side adept or, gods forbid, a Sith he wondered what would happen.
He looked at the ship’s clock and realized that they would be near Geonosis in a couple of hours; he looked at R2 and smiled, “Want to have game of chess or something?”
The droid shook it’s head and rolled off, Andrew muttered, “Of course, lots of things to do.” He heard Anakin talking to the holocron and frowned deeply, he wasn’t sure Darth Traya was the best mentor for Anakin but at least it wasn’t Palpatine, he knocked on the door and said, “You alright in there Ani?”
Anakin walked out and nodded, “I’m fine Andrew, I was just talking to.”
Andrew finished, “The holocron of Darth Traya, it’s alright if you are learning.”
“I am Andrew,” Anakin said, “But what about you? We could talk about anything.”
Andrew nodded and walked towards the kitchen and said, “I’m gonna make some dinner.”
“Alright,” Anakin smiled as he followed him into the kitchen, he looked at Andrew and sighed, “What do you think of Palpatine?”
“The guy’s a snake,” Andrew frowned, “I know he’s your friend but Ani I don’t like him, he’s always patronizing to me. First time I met him he came after Padmé was elected Queen the very evening, in fact he regaled us with tales of his youth, he gave me and Sola a migraine, Padmé had to listen to him of course but she wanted to hit him.”
Anakin smiled softly, “He’s been there for me since I came to Coruscant, he’s a good friend and I trust him.”
“Just don’t expect me to like him,” Andrew shuddered, “I can’t stand the man, never could though.”
“Maybe,” Anakin smiled, “If I’m with you he might seem a bit nicer and less snakelike.”
Andrew sighed, “I was with my family last time Ani but I suppose I could try to tolerate him if I have too.”
Anakin began to laugh and said, “Don’t worry; I don’t think I’d force you to like him.”
Andrew rolled his eyes as he began to make some dinner while Anakin told Andrew a bit of his and Faith’s training.
As Andrew sat back down he told Anakin of his training with the priests of life on Ithor and bits and pieces he got from the two holocrons.
“Hmm,” Anakin said, “You should consider the Order Andrew, you’re very skilled.”
“No,” Andrew said, “Anakin I’m probably going to spend more time exploring. I might head to Dxun after this as there are old tombs there that I need to look at.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” Anakin said simply, “You don’t need to go alone anymore.”
Andrew sighed, “Aren’t you a Padawan still? Will Obi-Wan let you come after me?”
Anakin grinned, “Probably, if he knew you got into trouble all the time.”
“Trouble?” Andrew said, “What kind of trouble have I gotten into?”
“Well there is that Sion guy, he looks like he hates you for some reason,” Anakin said, “And you might have some knowledge with of lightsaber combat and that won’t be enough if that guy caught you, say alone in a crumbling ruin.”
“Point taken,” Andrew sighed as he got up and poured out a bowl of soup for Anakin and some for himself.
As they ate Andrew groaned, “I might not be able to explore so much soon what with the war brewing though.”
Anakin nodded, “Do you think it’ll come to war? I mean can the Republic win a war?”
“We don’t have much of a military,” Andrew frowned, “So unless an army comes out of thin air we’re in for a tough fight and the Jedi can’t fight entire armies at once, that much I know.”
“I’m going to ask your sister,” Anakin sighed, “She’s pretty astute when it comes to politics, she’s on the loyalist committee, right?”
“I love Padmé but,” Andrew sighed, “I’m not exactly sure if leaving Jar Jar in charge was the best idea. I like the guy but I’m sure the reason why he’s the senator is because the Gungans couldn’t stand having him on the planet for more than a couple of minutes.”
Anakin began to laugh and nod, “Yeah but he’s a good guy, right?”
Andrew nodded, “I just hope he listens to his heart and not to the other politicians.”
“Hey,” Anakin said, “You wanna spar one last time before we get to Geonosis?”
“No, I want to rest. Who knows what’s there, you saw the hologram, right?” Andrew asked.
Anakin nodded and walked to the hold and began to use the holocron again while Andrew mediated as he had a bad feeling about what was coming.
A few hours later the ship came out of hyperspace and Andrew piloted the ship through the valleys and saw a couple of steam vents where he found Padmé’s ship down there and landed.
Padmé saw Andrew’s ship land and rushed over and waited for Andrew to come out, she saw him get out and hugged him tightly.
Andrew smiled softly and hugged her back, she saw Anakin come out and look at Faith. Andrew looked around and asked, “Where is Chewbacca?”
“We left him on Naboo,” Faith said, “We wanted him to protect mom and your family.”
Faith and Anakin quickly told each other what happened on their missions and they looked at Padmé and Andrew, Faith believed Anakin’s tale about Andrew having some skill but she was worried about Padmé, who would protect her?
Padmé looked at Andrew and told him what happened between her and Faith and looked dumbfounded when Andrew began to laugh a bit and tell her what he and Anakin had gotten into.
They both laughed a bit when Anakin and Faith came by and said, “We’re going into split up: Ani and Andrew, you two are going through those tunnels, Padmé and me are going to go through this factory entrance.”
As they split up Anakin mused, “Will Padmé be alright?”
“Yeah,” Andrew said, “She’s a great fighter, give her a blaster and she’s set but we might not want to start anything here.”
They moved through the tunnels and Andrew felt like they were being watched, he was sure they were being watched as this place felt creepy enough.
Anakin activated his lightsaber and they saw some creature’s move away, Andrew felt something pull on his pant leg and Anakin sliced whatever it was in half.
As they headed towards a light Andrew frowned, ‘It feels warm,’ as they walked into a massive factory, he looked at Anakin who yelled, “Faith!!!”
Andrew looked down and saw Faith on a conveyer belt about to be crushed, Anakin jumped down to help Faith while Andrew saw Padmé in a tub that was used for molten ore, Andrew looked at R2 and said, “Try to stop the ore processor!”
R2 beeped and activated the small jets and flew to the computer while Andrew told T3 to stay hidden, just in case.
Padmé saw Andrew trying to leap from tub to tub to get to her in time and tried to warn him that it was too dangerous.
“Damn it!!” Andrew muttered, “Why are these things always so damned rickety!?” He hoped that R2 could at least stop the conveyer belt.
Anakin got his sister’s hand free and Faith looked around and said, “Where are Andrew and Padmé? Are they alright?”
Andrew pulled Padmé out of the tub just as R2 managed to stop the conveyer belt when several droids rolled in; he looked over and saw Anakin and Faith surrounded by the aliens.
They dropped their weapons and were led away to chambers, Andrew sighed, “Anakin, are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Anakin called, “But Faith and I broke our lightsabers, we’re going to get it, I mean this has to be the seventh time it’s happened.”
Faith nodded, “How are you guys?”
Andrew sighed, “We’re alright; just a bit of bruises over here, Padmé had a bit of a tumble but she’s fine.”
“We’re probably going to find out what they’re planning on doing with us soon,” Padmé sighed, “And I doubt it’s going to be pleasant.”
Meanwhile over the skies of Geonosis a small dark ship flew silently over the assembled ships, Atris looked down, her eyes took in the ships and said, “Well, isn’t Sidous a clever Sith to manipulate so many people.”
Sion growled, “Sidous is a coward, he uses words when he should kill the Jedi himself. These new Jedi are pathetic, no challenge for me.”
Atris nodded, “They are flawed in how they act, so blind to the code I set down for them and now Revan and the Exile shall lead them further down the dark path they are on.”
‘Hmmph,’ Sion thought, ‘Dark path indeed,’ he wanted to fight this Count Dooku himself; to him these new Sith were what was the real insult to him. They would deal with both sides soon and Revan and the Exile would be gone.
TBC
Atris and Sion will arrive soon to throw a wrench into both sides plans. How will Sidious and Dooku react to two new sith lords in town? What should Andrew be doing in the Clone Wars? And how should the Clone Wars change due to all this outside interference? Who wants to see a Dooku vs. Sion fight or a Sion vs. Obi Wan and Qui-Gon fight?
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