Secrets and Suspicion (Book 1)

Injury on the Battlefield

Anakin ran to the east wing of the Cruiser as they prepared to land. They were almost to Florrum, their destination to take down Grievous' new base, which was being built fast.

"Skywalker!" Mace called. "Now, hold on a minute! What are you doing?"

"Getting ready to jump. Why?"

"Are you out of your mind, Skywalker? Go to the hangar to board your gunship! Your troopers are waiting."

The mission was tense. Grievous' new base was very dangerously guarded, so this time, while planning the mission, the Jedi had been very careful to pay attention to every wall, barrier, and where the security measures where the highest. Anakin had been so thrown off by everything because of Ahsoka being gone. She had wanted to give the briefing for this mission. He averted his eyes from Mace, nodding so that Mace knew he would do what he said. So, following orders as an obedient Jedi did, he headed off to the hangar to board his gunship. Once he was in there, the troopers seemed to be in a hurry.

"Alright, men, you know the drill. Let's move!" Anakin instructed.

He walked to his gunship, watching the troopers dash around, loading supplies and themselves onto the ships.

"Sir," Rex came onto the gunship, standing across from Anakin. "There seems to be an additional problem."

"What is it?" Anakin asked firmly, grabbing onto a handle at the top of the gunship.

Rex continued on. "Grievous is holding on to something that is precious. It belongs to us; the Republic. He took it away, intending for it to be a reel to pull us in. But he never got around to letting us know that he had it. I don't know what it is, but I do know it is something special to us."

Anakin shook his head in frustration. "He really seems to know how to reel us in, doesn't he?" He stuck his head out of the side of the gunship. "Let's go!" he told the pilot. The pilot nodded, and the doors on both sides closed. "So if it's so special to us, than what do you think it is? And more importantly, how did he get it?"

"I don't know, sir. That's what we have to find out once we land."

Anakin nodded. "Let's go have some fun."

Once they were about 50 feet from the ground, they jumped, the clones using their jet packs and Anakin using the Force, all to land safely. Looking down the line of where the gunships were dropping the Jedi and troopers off, Anakin saw Obi-Wan, Mace and all of their troops jumping.

As soon as their feet hit the ground, they started running. On the dusty, dry land of Florrum, gunships hovered over and shot at enemies, battle droids and clones shot at each other, lightsabers swung. Grievous wasn't visible.

"Go, go, go, go!" Commander Cody yelled. "Let's move!"

Anakin ran, taking down all kinds of droids everywhere. His comlink beeped, and he lifted his arm to answer. But as soon as he did, he fell, pain taking over his body. All he could hear was Rex saying, "General... General, are you all right?" All of the other sounds were drowned out. And soon enough, there weren't any sounds, and everything turned pitch black.

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"Anakin... Anakin. Wake up." Anakin heard Obi-Wan's voice. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself lying in a stark white room, with Obi-Wan hovering over him. 

"Ah," he grunted groggily, in pain, attempting to get up.

"You're in a medical facility now. You were shot on Florrum. We rushed you back here, so we could save you," Obi-Wan explained.

"What?!" Anakin exclaimed. "Where am I shot?" he asked, slightly panicked, not to mention worried about if Grievous' base was down yet. He propped himself up on his elbow, wincing with pain.

"You were shot right below your rib cage on the right side, just missing several vitally important organs. Apparently, you lifted your arm to answer a call, so a droideka got you there."

"What?!" Anakin repeated. He promised himself once that he would never let a destroyer droid stop him, but he just broke off that promise.

"You could have been killed," Obi-Wan said, "But we rushed you here just in time."

"Well, that's comforting," Anakin said sarcastically.

"Anakin, since I have you so strictly bound to one area, I wanted to ask you a few questions."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Go ahead."

Obi-Wan sat down in a chair across the small room. "Well, this first one isn't really a question. You seem to be late very often. I was just wondering why. The other day you delayed Ahso- I mean, your Padawan's call." He knew Anakin was very apprehensive about anyone saying Ahsoka's name.

"Look, Master, I was eating breakfast that mor- wait, how did you know that I talked to her that morning?"

"We discussed things," Obi-Wan replied.

"I'm just always late, that's all. It takes me a long time to get ready."

"Then rise from your sleep earlier," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin looked at him, frustrated that Obi-Wan had found a solution to the 'late' problem. Now what was he going to do? Padmé enjoyed the mornings when Anakin stayed late in the mornings. Great. He'd have to find another way. Or even better, another good excuse.