Survival: A Star Wars The Clone Wars Story

Chapter 3

The Jedi temple communications tower was quiet, apart from beeps from the electronic control panels along the walls. The room was lit by soft beams of light floating through the tall windows. Anakin sat waiting on a stool in front of a control panel constantly sighing and fidgeting with the hook that clipped his lightsabre to his belt.

"Why did it have to be me?" he muttered to himself. "It should be Ahsoka doing this, she's the padawan."

Shifting his attention back to the monitor screen, he checked the time. It was exactly the time that Luminara and Barriss had scheduled for check in. They should be at the outpost by now. Anakin continued to wait, which was something that was a little challenging for him. After around 15 minutes or so, he checked the screen again. Still nothing. It was very unusual for Luminara to be late for anything; sticking to the rules was one of her main principles.

Anakin spent the next 15 minutes spinning around on the swiveling stool. Being patient was not something he was good at. Turning his attention back to the screen he tried to contact their ship but there was no response. He tried several more times until eventually, he gave up and tapped the comlink on his wrist.

"Master?"

"Yes Anakin, what is it?" Obi-Wan Kenobi replied.

"Master Unduli has missed her check in time."

"That's not good. How late is she"

"It's been half an hour."

"That is rather unusual considering how much she goes on to us about punctuality. Can you reach her at all?"

"No. I have tried several times with no response."

"That's even more strange. It is possible that they have been attacked, or even their ship has been destroyed."

Anakin drew a sharp breath at the last option. "Well, we'll have to tell the Jedi council about this."

"Yes, I agree. I'll meet you at the elevator to the High Council spire in about 10 minutes, I believe they have another session starting around then."

"Alright master, I'll see you there."

Anakin made his way down from the communications tower and found Obi-Wan waiting for him, with his arms folded, outside the many high speed elevators that went all the way from the bottom to the top of the High Council spire.

"I said 10 minutes Anakin, not 20."

"I had further to walk than you."

Obi-Wan knew there was no point in replying over such a small matter, so instead, he turned towards the elevators one of the buttons with an 'up' arrow on it. Within seconds the doors slid open and Anakin and Obi-Wan waited for a pale purple skinned Twi'Lek padawan to exit the elevator with her togrutan Jedi master, before stepping inside. They rode to the top in silence for what was only a minute, before the doors glided aside revealing a white, polished, sunlit corridor. They strode towards the double doors at the end of the corridor, pressed a buzzer and waited to be allowed to enter the council meeting.

Eventually, the doors opened and Anakin and Obi-Wan walked into the circular room and bowed in respect to Master Yoda, and the other council members. Yoda returned the bow with a nod of his head, and then spoke.

"A problem, you have Master Kenobi?"

"Well, yes Master Yoda. Anakin had the duty of waiting for Master Unduli's check in on her supply mission, this morning, but I'm afraid to say he never got a response."

"Most troubling news, that is. Send someone to search for answers, we must." Yoda turned to Mace Windu, who was sitting on a pod chair next to him.

"I'm afraid all of our Jedi who are up to that task, are not available."

"But what about us?" Anakin intervened. "We could go, and Ahsoka, and find them."

"You two are also not available over the next week, as you have a mission of your own. Only once you have done that, will you be able to go on a rescue mission." Mace replied, coolly.

"Ahsoka could go." Anakin said, starting to get annoyed.

"Padawan Tano is not experienced enough to go on such a mission on her own. She will be monitoring the communications while you are on your mission, in case they do make contact."

"But surely a rescue mission is more important that our next mission, their lives could be in danger!"

"There are lives in danger constantly in a war, Skywalker. If we still have no response after your next mission, then you may go on a rescue mission." Mace turned to the rest of the council. "Do we all agree?" He asked the rest of the council. Most of the room nodded in reply, but some did not.

"I have to agree with Anakin," said Ki-Adi Mundi. "We have had no reply, Master Unduli and Padawan Offee could be in danger."

"I'm afraid no reply is not enough to change my mind. Just because they did not check in does not mean that they are in danger." Mace replied sternly. Ki-Adi sat back in his chair, but did not look entirely convinced.

"The decision then, that is." Master Yoda said, concluding their meeting. "Go now, you may."

Anakin and Obi-Wan bowed again, before leaving the room, allowing the session to continue. They were silent on the way down, again. Obi-Wan was leaning against one of the walls of the elevator, while Anakin paced, as far as he could around the elevator. Eventually, he spoke.

"I can't believe they did that!" He exclaimed, angrily.

"I know Anakin, but there isn't anything we can do about it. We're just going to have to wait."

"But Luminara and Barriss might not be able to wait. They could be in trouble right now!"

"I agree with you Anakin, but like I said, there's nothing we can do right now, so you'll just have to deal with it, and wait. You'll also need to tell Ahsoka about this, as she now has a job to do next week."

"Fine. I'll tell Ahsoka about this. She'll be furious too, especially now she's been given such a boring job for the entire week." He had stopped pacing, and was now staring at the wall of the elevator, as if trying to bore a hole into the wall with his eyes. Obi-Wan just ignored him and waited for the doors to open as they came to a halt. The elevator doors opened into a large high ceiling-ed hall, lit by square-shaped windows dotted around high up on the walls and filled with various Jedi, coming and going out of the many doorways and elevators all around the room. They stepped out and went their separate ways.

A.N. -  Sorry it took so long to update, and all that stuff I wrote about inside the Jedi Temple, I made up... I have no idea about most of the stuff inside of it.