A Path Less Taken

Chapter 8 - Ambushed

"Send this back to the Jedi Temple. I think my time will be pretty preoccupied while I'm working on this," Anakin said, giving the holobook to a clone.

"Yes sir," the clone said, taking the holobook and walking away with it. Then he followed Rex to wherever Tup was being held.

"Give me the run down," Anakin asked.

"We were on a mission to get rid of this droid space station that circled the planet. Master Tiplee and Tiplar were our Jedi generals during the assault as well as Master Kenobi. Initially, you would've been selected for the mission, but you were gone. We were doing well. We were pushing past their defenses pretty well. That is, until Tup went behind Master Tiplar and shot her. Directly in the head. We lost our momentum and were forced to push back. We're keeping him tied to a medical gurney, sedated. He's... well, you'll see," Rex explained to him.

Anakin frowned. That was very troubling news. Tup was a good soldier. He knew this as he had served under the 501st under multiple occasions. There's no way he would shoot a Jedi out of nowhere. Something deeper had to be underlying this whole thing.

"I'll oversee the delivery of Tup myself. If those Separatists did anything to him that would make him do this, I'll find whoever did it and make them pay," Anakin said, his face lined up in a snarl. The pure look of viciousness on Anakin's face didn't surprise Rex too much. He had seen similar situations where he lost his temper in the past. In this case, he wouldn't mind. Not one bit.

Anakin got into a starfighter that was designated for him before flying off after the escort, tailing them to make sure things went smoothly. He suddenly frowned. He felt that something was coming his way, so Anakin braced himself, his eyes on the lookout for the slightest thing.

"Calculating hyperspace jump in five... four... oh, wait wait. Scans indicate incoming craft. Abort jump," the clone pilot said before a number of Separatists ships came out of hyperspace. Anakin immediately abandoned traditional formation before going into his classic space fight instincts. He veered off to the right to immediately get a sight on the more bulky craft and blasting the front of the ship with several blasts. Anakin was then forced to veer off to the right as to avoid laser fire heading his way.

Several droids jumped out of the small crafts they were traveling in; some heading to the ship transporting Tup while others started heading towards other clone escort ships. Anakin slightly squinted his eyes while he looked the droids heading his way. So he slightly adjusted his ship to focus his cannons on the flying droids, blasting several of them out of the sky before they reached him.

A few stray droids made it to the ship carrying Tup as well as the main ship sending a missile filled with sabotage droids, so Anakin focused his attention on that. He silently cursed because he realized had no helmet, therefore, no way to get to the next ship. Only choice was to call in for help.

"Admiral," Anakin called in as he looked at the events taking place.

"Yes General Skywalker?" the Admiral asked.

"We're under attack. Send some ships to come pick us up. I'll try and keep the droids here for as long as I can. I won't let them leave with Tup," Anakin said.

"We'll send assistance as quickly as possible," the Admiral said.

"Try to make it very fast," Anakin said before signing off and putting his ship in stasis mode. Taking a look at the ship of the droids, he took a good long look at the ship before eyeing its hyperdrive unit.

"A blast from my ship would do way too much damage to the ship. And lower Tup's survival chances even more. Maybe I can try..." Anakin said, holding his hand out. Concentrating his grip on the hyperdrive unit, he squeezed his hand slightly and it began to crush. Then Anakin suddenly tightened his fist, and the hyperdrive destroyed itself. Anakin took his ship out of stasis mode before flying off to retreat out of sight while eyeing the droids that took Tup. A little patience was all it took.

He watched them as they eased the ship near the attacked shuttle that was holding Tup. A part of him grew upset at the fact that the clones on that ship were dead; a mix of anger and slight sadness gripped at him. But he knew there was nothing he could do. He found some comfort in the fact that he knew those soldiers fought with all of their resolve for their brother. He would see that it would not be in vain.

"Hyperdrive is malfunctioning. Cannot take off to the rendezvous point." Anakin found his senses were heightened considerably, and he could hear what the droids on the next ship were saying. Something he never thought he was capable of. At least this far in space.

"Then fix it. Make sure that you get that clone to the point." The voice of Dooku reminded him of his vision that he had while he was on Naboo. About using the powers of the Dark Side for good. The reminder was welcome. If he found Dooku, he could truly take that lesson to heart.

The call immediately ended once Dooku said his statement, and several of the droids went out to investigate the hyperdrive. Closing his eyes and holding out his hand, he gripped both of the droids in his grip. His empty mind suddenly became aggressive as he crushed the droids and they began floating in space. Anakin found something... odd about how well he was using the Force, but it was certainly coming in handy considering the situation. He had much better control of it as well as more power in everything he did.

"Probably all the training," Anakin thought idly before leaning back in his ship. He waited for his ship to show up and he was glad to get onto the supporting ship. They extracted Tup from the damaged Separatist ship, and luckily, he was alright. Well, technically speaking.

"How's he doing?" Anakin asked once he got onto the extraction ship.

"Not good. Not good at all. I think he's dying sir," Rex said.

"We need to get him to Kamino. Get us there as fast as you can," Anakin told him.

"Yes sir," Rex said, heading to the front of the ship. Anakin locked himself in a room nearby and decided to get on a certain channel that Anakin privately encrypted. At least there was something that came out of the lessons for this thing. At first he thought it was stupid that they need a crash course on how to operate a comms unit. Now, it didn't seem so dumb.

"Thanks for checking in," Ahsoka said, who sat up off the couch she was laying on when Anakin contacted her.

"No problem."

"How's Rexy?"

"Holding up. Just like his brothers," Anakin said, somewhat grimly.

"Things bad?"

"Tup's dying. We're getting him to Kamino to see what's the problem."

"I hope we don't lose anyone. I worked with those guys for a long time."

"No one is dying if I have anything to say about it. But I just thought you'd like to hear something. I know things get kind of dull by yourself."

"They do, so I really appreciate this. Save Tup, and then get you ass back here," Ahsoka said, making Anakin smirk with a raised eyebrow.

"You have such a way with words Ahsoka," Anakin said with a humored tone.

"You know what I mean," Ahsoka said, who had the modesty to sound somewhat embarrassed. Which only made Anakin smirk wider.

"Well, you made that loud and clear," he said, his tone full of humor. It was then Ahsoka cut off the call. The risk of the clones hearing him and inquire what was wrong considering the situation is the only reason Anakin didn't burst out laughing.