Chapter 113

"Okay boys… and err girl… we're four minutes out from the landing zone, check your gear and be ready.

The tanks will provide us some cover but it's still going to be a tough climb, watch each other's backs and keep your heads on swivels.

Let's remind the separatists why the five-oh-first are the best soldiers in the republic!"

Ahsoka Tano, jedi padawan and newly commissioned officer in the grand army of the republic, fought the urge to roll her eyes at her new master awkwardly forgetting she was there.

She'd worked so hard to pass her padawan trials and even though her opinion of becoming a padawan wasn't as high as it had once been she had still been proud to be one of the few jedi to pass their trials before they turned eighteen.

But so far things weren't going quite how she'd imagined they would do. She had known that being thrown into an active warzone would be different from what her jedi training had taught her about, but she'd at least hoped her master would be able to guide her through it.

Jedi padawans were supposedly hand-picked by their masters, so when master Yoda had told her she had been chosen to become the apprentice of a jedi knight called Anakin Skywalker she had been a bit confused as to why Skywalker hadn't come to tell her himself, but she'd thought that he must be too caught up in the war currently raging across the galaxy.

Anakin Skywalker had become a knight a month earlier, and at nineteen was one of the youngest jedi to ever achieve the rank of knight and it was the similarity with both of them passing the trails at young ages that made Ahsoka think that he'd picked her.

But instead, she'd arrived to find that not only had Skywalker not picked her he hadn't even wanted to train a padawan at all.

Ahsoka had lost quite a bit of respect for master Yoda when he had allowed a jedi padawan to attack the mysterious boy she had found in the ice caves during her gathering, and that was after he had let both her and the boy be sealed inside the caves to potentially freeze to death, but this situation had lowered that opinion even more.

She didn't know if master Yoda was using her to test Skywalker in some way or if she was just being used to make up for losses that the republic army that the jedi seemed to have suddenly merged with had already taken, but either way she didn't like it.

But it did make her think about the boy she had met in the ice caves and wonder if she would ever see him again.

"Hey, you okay commander?" A voice sounded from next to her and Ahsoka snapped out of her thoughts to look up into the expressionless t-shaped visor of one of the clone troopers under her master's command.

"Uhm… yeah, just thinking about the best way to complete the mission," she said, not quite lying but not being completely trueful either.

The truth was not counting the brief skirmish on christophsis this was the first time she'd ever been in combat, and she was a little bit nervous.

"… You know there's no reason to worry, the captain and the general have got this covered. Just follow their lead and you'll be fine," The clone said and Ahsoka noticed the insignia on his armour that marked him as a sergeant.

"Yeah, and with how chaotic this climb's going to be if something bad happens you probably won't have time to worry about it," another clone said with a laugh, until the sergeant shut him up with a quick glare.

"Okay! Thirty seconds, final comm checks!" general Skywalker shouted as the troop bay's lights turned a ghostly red and she heard someone call out that a clone called Ridge's comms were broken.

"You okay Snips?" Skywalker said in a quieter voice as he looked down at her.

Maybe if she hadn't changed her opinion on the jedi and she was still fighting to prove herself worthy of being a padawan, she might have been defensive and hidden behind a facade of cockiness but instead she just offered a small smile and a nod.

"Just stay close to me. You'll be fine" her master said before he turned back to his second in command clone captain Rex.

Moments later the lights in the troop bay turned green and the gunships blast doors slid open revealing the bleak forests of Teth.

"Ground floor, everybody out!" The gunships pilot said over the comm.

"Green light, GO! GO! GO!" Skywalker shouted at the same time and the clones rushed to follow him out of the gunship, Ahsoka only a step behind.

She watched as the clones split of into smaller groups and spread out so that they weren't in a big inviting clump to attract enemy artillery fire.

Two big republic AT-TE's slammed into the dirt nearby and began lumberously walking towards the nearby cliff that they needed to climb to reach the monastery where their target was being imprisoned.

Ahsoka didn't have time to stare at the big tanks for long though before she was running towards the protection of the base of the cliff, expecting the whole way to be cut down by enemy blaster bolts.

But she and all the clones made it safely to the base of the cliff, with not a shot being fired.

"Attach grapples and start climbing!" Captain Rex shouted from further down the line, but Ahsoka followed her masters lead and grabbed hold of a long vine protruding from the cliff and began hauling herself upwards.

The climb was hard work, but she was able to keep up with the clones without any issues thanks to her jedi training and soon they began to near the halfway point.

"Hey! I thought this cliff was supposed to be heavily defended! How come no-one's shooting at us yet!" a voice shouted over the comm's followed by a series of responses.

"Scouts said they monastery was crawling with clankers, that's why we couldn't land on the peak."

"Gunships said the landing pad still covered in spider droids as we flew past, those things could tear us apart!"

"Then why aren't they?"

"Maybe they've gone home?"

"Probably ran away as soon as they saw us."

"Enough, maintain comm discipline!" Captain Rex said silencing the discussion, "we've still got a long way to go, stay focused!"

They all continued the arduous climb but still the separatist defenders remained quiet and soon they reached the top and prepared to pull themselves over and face whatever was on the landing pad above them.

Ahoska flipped herself up and over the edge just behind her master, her lightsabre ignited and ready to face any threat head on, only to stop in shock at what she saw.

Clone troopers streamed past her to secure the landing pad, and to examine the piles of scrapped battle droids scattered all around them.

She looked around taking in the carnage before spotting her master and his clone captain having a discussion by a destroyed spider droid and began walking towards them.

"Looks like someone got here before us…" her master said as he poked at a ragged hole that had been torn through the front of the spider droid.

"Or multiple someones, look at what we brought with us to deal with these guys." Captain Rex muttered as he gazed across the landing pad.

 "Maybe…. I'm thinking it's just the one though…. Someone armed with a slugthrower," Skywalker said before checking behind himself as though he was expecting someone to appear out of thin air.

"Establish a defensive perimeter and have those tanks ready to take out any incoming starships, I don't like how exposed we are, and we need to keep this area secure if we want a gunship to land here and pick us up.

Me and the padawan are going to have a look inside the monastery and try and find this baby Hutt, call us if you need us." Ahsoka's master said and gestured for her to follow him inside the ancient looking building.

"Will do sir, have fun in there," the clone captain said before striding of to begin shouting orders for his men to get ready.

But instead of watching the clones running to create defensive positions Ahsoka jogged to catch up with her master who was walking calmly through the monasteries entrance.

They walked in silence down several corridors and staircases without stopping or finding anything until Ahsoka finally couldn't contain herself any longer.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she glanced around them, "This seems like a dungeon."

"Because it is. Figured it's probably the best place to look for a prisoner," Her master said and seemed to check the ceiling as though he was worried something was about to pounce on him.

"Smaaaart… you know there's dismantled battle droids down here, right?" she said as they passed two super battle droids lying in a shattered heap in an alcove.

"Yup, means we're probably on the right track… and that there's someone else down here," Skywalker muttered darkly and Ahsoka just shrugged.

They moved past more open and empty cells until they spotted a locked door near the end of the corridor.

"Ooooh a locked door, you think it might be what we're looking for," Ahsoka grinned as she leaned towards the door.

The faint cry of an infant sounded from behind the door and Ahsoka smiled as she turned to tell her master that they had found their target when he suddenly went flying backwards as a dark shadow tackled him to the ground.

Ahsoka's lightsabre was already ignited and, in her hand as she stepped forwards to help her master, but she only made it a few steps before she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Sorry sweetheart, but you don't want to get involved in this" a soft feminine voice whispered in Ahsoka's ear as someone rested a hand on her shoulder, freezing her in place.