Thicker Than Blood

Chapter 5

I am a Jedi. I am supposed to put my emotions aside in order to focus on my duty. I am supposed to be able to do my job no matter what, or who, is around me. I am supposed to keep my head at all times. I am meant to expect the unexpected and continue as though I had known it was going to happen all along.

Despite that, my heart pounded in my ears as emotions rioted through my mind. The curtain that had been smothering my senses was suddenly dropped as the last person I expected to be leading a troupe of droids was standing in front of me. I was shocked into numbness. Ahsoka Tano, my padawan, the teenage Togruta I had been training to become a Jedi, had a squadron of Separatist B1 battle droids at her command.

She ignited her twin lightsabers, evenly holding them up behind her in her usual backhanded grip as her bright blue eyes flew over us. The Force was still thick and confused with the Dark Side, and it swept around and between us forebodingly, but I sensed a turmoil of conflict raging through my padawan.

We stood facing each other silently for what seemed an eternity. Ahsoka was the one who broke it.

"Hello, Master," she greeted me quietly, readjusting her lightsabers uneasily. "I've been waiting for you."

My eyebrows shot up. "You were waiting for me? But you were away, training on Dagobah! I said goodbye, have a good trip, be safe – all that stuff! What's going on, Snips?"

She looked down. "Things ... changed." She lifted her eyes again, and I was stunned by the exhausted betrayal I saw in her normally playful, orange-coloured face. She drew her green sabers around in front of her, preparing to attack. "I'm sorry, Master." Then she dashed forwards, and I only just had to time to flick on my own weapon as we engaged in battle. I knew right away that this wasn't just a "have-fun" lightsaber practice; she was fighting to win. A horrible thought struck me. Was she fighting ... to kill? It couldn't have been her sending me those messages. It just could not have. Ahsoka would never do a thing like that. Would she?

My concentration was flippant, and Ahsoka made me suffer for it. She found every hole in my defence and made sure I felt it. Obi-Wan was taking care of the droids, which was just as well: I would have been in a lot of trouble if he wasn't there. But I could hardly sense his presence, even though he was fighting just a few feet away. His mental shields were as hard as ever.

After Ahsoka had landed too many blows on me, I tried talking to her, shouting over the din of lightsabers and guns. "What happened, Ahsoka? You won't have barely started that training course!"

She flung a ferocious swipe at my chest. "Like I said, things changed! I can't tell you any more than that, Master!"

I stopped myself from asking why not, dodging another of her lunges and narrowly missing being hit by her other saber. Frustration and confusion mingled with the fog in my brain that was caused by the thick emptiness from the Dark Side. The pure anger mixed with cruel delight warned me of more than our phantom attacker wanted to let on. He was using us. The thought was so simple and so plain, but it carried so much. He was using Ahsoka, and I wondered if he was using Obi-Wan, too. I would just have to outsmart him, stay one step ahead. That was easier said than done.

Obi-Wan was making short work of the droids, absorbed in his own world, so I renewed my attention on the job – or, more accurately, the person – in front of me. I refined my movements, focused my defences, and timed my attacks. I was very careful not to hurt her, but I was working to disarm her. She noticed the shift in the Force, and our elusive enemy did, too. The cruel pleasure that he had been exuding was quickly being replaced by confused rage. He had been expecting us to fail; he had been sure his mind games were going to work. But I was determined to thwart him. I was going to play him at his own game. He thought shoving Ahsoka in my face would throw me off and turn me into easy prey, and in part, he was right. But his plan was backfiring because of his own pride. He was keeping too close to the action so that he could watch our demise, but the self-satisfied smugness that he was radiating gave away his intentions. He was using my padawan. And I didn't like that.