Chapter 11 - My face is my Shield
Both Anakin and Ahsoka took a while to recover from the attack, making their way to the ship. "Rex, call all the clones back to the ship, we need to go after one of the escape pods." Anakin wasn't in a hurry to convey the message, he sounded defeated.
"Is everything alright, sir?" Rex had already started moving the clones to the ship, but he was concerned about Anakin's words, it was something that he had never heard from his general.
"Just get the clones to the ship."
"Yes, sir."
Anakin hung up, and continued up the stairs, contemplating what he saw. Ahsoka spoke up. "Master, who was that." but it only came out as a whisper.
Anakin had no idea who or what that was, he could only grind his teeth in annoyance, the defeat here fueled his anger toward this thing that was only capable of brutality.
Ahsoka could feel the anger resonating off Anakin, so she spoke up again, in an attempt to calm him. "Master, we can't fall to our emotions, otherwise you will lose yourself to your anger, making you an easy target for him, next time." Listening to her words, Anakin understood what she meant. He continued to ignore everything, focusing on channelling his anger, storing it for later.
After walking in silence for a bit, Ahsoka and Anakin found themselves at the ship, where Rex was, waiting for them. "Sir, I haven't been able to contact the West wing, What happened?" Anakin walked past without a word, and Ahsoka stayed behind to inform them who they were up against.
The clones rushed to the west wing to confirm it themselves, leaving Ahsoka and Anakin to ponder.
***
After an hour, Anakin and Ahsoka sent an invoice to the Jedi council, requesting a meeting to further talk about what they found. After the clones had cleaned up the mess, they gathered the remaining body parts of the clones, ready to honour their sacrifice when they land again.
The ship detached itself from the tube and flew after the escape pods.
Krieg looked at the ship disappear into space as he watched from the bridge. Behind him was the captain, tied to his seat with the Mandalorian ripcord.
"I trust you will comply with my request, Captain, for if you don't-" Krieg made his approach to the captain. "-I will kill you, and find someone else to do as I say, if they don't comply then they will suffer the same fate as you, the cycle will continue and you will be responsible for the deaths of civilians if you don't comply."
The captain felt a blade curve around his exposed neck, it ground against his skin threatening to slice through his neck if he didn't do as he was told.
The captain nodded and the ripcord was removed. The captain was left to his own devices while the Mandalorian had asked for Krieg's attention.
From here small ticks, Krieg licked up that she was uncomfortable with his brutality. Before she could speak a word, Krieg spoke first. "You are uncomfortable with my brutality," Krieg said as a statement rather than a question.
The Mandalorian was a bit surprised that he already knew what was on her mind. " I am, but, you are the leader, and I am but a subordinate."
Krieg approached the Mandalorian, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're a valued subordinate, for you are the first to join me, your concern about my brutality is noted, I will not be so brutal in front of you in the future, but now I have a request for you."
The Mandalorian cocked her head to the side, confused.
"Don't be so petty in the future, if you have a problem, say it straight, I will not fall for emotional sway."
Krieg walked away, into the captain's quarters, leaving the Mandalorian alone.
"Oh, right. What is your name?" Krieg said while walking away.
"Kali." The Mandalorian he responded.
***
"Did you find the stranger?" Obi-wan asked.
Ahsoka and Anakin had just left the vessel and were following the escape pod.
"Yes." The images of what Anakin saw down the hallway rose back into his heart.
"Do you talk with them?" Master Windu asked.
Anakin was too angry to reply, leaving the Ahsoka to respond.
"No, master, we didn't get the chance."
Windu: "Then why did you leave the vessel?"
Ahsoka: "They escaped in an escape pod, we're in pursuit."
Obi-Wan: "Now that's out of the way, what occurred that has Anakin shaken?"
Anakin's anger became more obvious to the Jedi masters.
Yoda: "Meditate you should."
"Master, I will convey what happened on the vessel, you should lie down," Ahsoka said while comforting Anakin.
Anakin huffed in response and left the room, the masters waiting for Ahsoka.
Windu: " Speak, padawan."
Ahsoka: "We arrived at the ship, and went to the storage room where we found the room in disarray and four bandits that were killed, after exploring we found nothing else, Rex called, telling us he lost contact with the west wing team when we me and Anakin got there-" Ahsoka took a breath to calm herself. "-We found the team, ripped apart, with their blood on the walls. The assailant revealed themselves, a gas mask, a red captain's coat, black pants and combat boots-" Her voice began to tremble, and she began to talk faster. "He had, me and Anakin in some sort of trance, it happened once I looked into the visor of his mask, I felt hands grip my skin-" Ahsoka didn't want to reveal what she felt, in fear of the Jedi's code. "They started to tear my flesh, and crush my bones." Ahsoka's speech became more frantic, but before she could say another word, she was stopped.
Yoda: " Speak no more, you should, quell your emotions you shall."
Windu: "I agree with the grandmaster, I think you should meditate on these emotions, remove them and then come back, we have much to discuss, leave now."
"Yes, master" Ahsoka bowed and left
Obi-Wan: "This is quite troublesome, we are now facing a new threat, apparently one that possesses great strength and force power, which is capable of such savagery, would this not be another sith?"
Windu: "That would be unlikely, but for now, this group of individuals is dangerous, we can't expend any more time, they will be a priority after the war."
Yoda: "Leave this enemy to grow, and they shall overrun us, they will."
Obi-Wan: " I agree with the grandmaster, we can't let this individual go, they pose go great a threat, but I think that we should have someone else deal with them, Anakin and Ahsoka have dealt with them enough."
Windu didn't agree, but Yoda had ordered it, so he had no choice. "I'm approaching Yugoth, we will speak on the subject with the other members of the council later, for now though, I suggest we deal with our matters first."
Obi-Wan: " Agreed."
The three masters ended the call, leaving Anakin and Ahsoka in their room, thinking over the carnage, trying to subdue their emotions.
***
Krieg went back to the previous room where he dreamed about the emperor and licked up his shovel.
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