Star Wars: The End of Time

Part 6

Obi-Wan's words rang through his mind as he sat cross legged on his bunk trying to meditate and relieve some of the tension from his body. Plus he needed to come up with a strategy for Hypori. It wasn't something which was going to solve itself. The problem was, he couldn't stop thinking about what his former Master had said.

To let go. He couldn't. There were some things he couldn't let go. One, letting his newly named Padawan become an orange spot on the battlefield, and his wife. These were the two things in his life which meant the most to him in this place and in this time. Anakin had said it in his mind so many times...his wife. He wondered now what she was doing, where she was and if she was worrying about him. Anakin even thought of trying to reach out and find her, but feared being caught by the two other Jedi on the ship. He worried about her. She was never far from his thoughts, although when around other Jedi, he tried to block her from his mind completely. It was hard to keep such a secret hidden deep inside when all he wanted to do was shout it from the top of every sand dune on Tatooine.

He attempted to close his eyes even tighter, willing the meditation to come, but it was really no use. There was no way he was going to make any strides towards his strategy at this rate. You couldn't force meditation to happen. He had learned that a long time ago when he was trying to fool Obi-wan. He was going to have to do something to get his mind off of everything that had gone on during the day. There was so much to think over. There were so many details to what needed to be done. Anakin was sure this would be a turning point in the war and that destroying the machine works and shipyards at Hypori would be just the thing to get other systems to join with the Republic and to fight against the Seps. How could they wish to continue this futile war? Although, Anakin had to admit, the Seps had some very strong holds around the galaxy. Plus, they had the financing and purpose that maybe the Republic was lacking. How could he think such things?

He was loyal, as loyal as anyone else in the Republic. He just wanted to return to the temple and Coruscant where he was supposed to be. Where life wasn't always up and down and was more predictable. Where he wanted to be right now so that he could be closer to the one person who understood more than anyone else. He shook his head trying to clear everything from it. Anakin rose from his cot and triggered his internal ship comlink above his cot. "Rex," he spoke into the speaker. "Meet me in the shooting range."

"Yes sir," Rex returned through the speaker in his brisk voice. "ETA five minutes." Anakin slipped the glove over his recently replaced hand and flexed it. It had become a habit to remove the glove when he was trying to relax.  He checked to make sure the pommel of his lightsaber was clipped to his belt where it always was these days. Now was the time when he would find his calmness. With his Lightsaber in his hand and deflecting whatever came his way, it would be the force which guided his moves and freed his mind from all these things that just kept clouding it up. This would be his chance to get away from the ghost of her which his mind brought into his dreams every night. He moved towards the door and pressed the release button, the door slid open silently. Maybe he should call Ahsoka to come and workout with him, they hadn't had a chance to train recently. It wasn't very often during the skirmishes that they had time to hone their skills. Anakin was sure he wasn't doing as good a job as he should be with her training. He didn't consider calling Obi-wan, who never really approved of the methods Anakin used to find his answers. It was just another lecture that he wanted to avoid.

Anakin keyed his comlink. "Ahsoka," he said waiting as he flexed his hand inside the glove again. It was chaffing him more than normal today. Possibly a problem with the organic circuit interface. He would have to check it before he began any serious combat. There had been several upgrades to it recently and sometimes it took time for the flesh to adjust. It would do him no good to have an arm that wasn't working during a tense battle.