Anabeth: Spark Of Change

Chapter 12 - First Mission

The first thing Ana heard when she opened her eyes was the sound of someone knocking at her door with considerable force. "Anabeth, wake up!" Windu's voice sounded from the other side of the door. With an annoyed groan the girl sat up in her bed and looked at the chronometer "It's 0500 hours, what's the matter?". "Emergency meeting with Master Yoda, Kenobi and Gallia. Now hurry up and get dressed".

Ana shot out of bed the second she heard the word 'emergency' and got dressed as quickly as possible. Windu and her soon hurried out of their quaters and made their way to briefing room one. "So what's the deal with the meeting?" Anabeth looked at her Master in curiousity. "We've received a distress call from Master Unduli. Her Ships were overrun near Herdessa which means the Sepratists now have a clear path to Christophsis" Windu put Ana into the picture. "That's not good" the girl said worriedly. "My thoughts exactly" Windu sighed.

By the time Ana and Windu arrived in the briefing room everyone else was already present either physically or via hologram. Ana briefly bowed to the other Masters before taking her place beside Master Windu. "Alright, do we have a plan for Christophsis yet?" Windu immediately asked. "Sending Master Gallia to pick up what's left of Master Unduli's fleet and cover the position I am. But a long time it will take for her to get from Saleucami to Herdessa so not in time to aid Christophsis she will be. The best chance of securing the planet we have if take this mission you do" Yoda spoke directly to Mace who nodded his head in agreement. "I'll tell the troops to prepare for immediate departure".

"If you'd like I can keep an eye on Ana for you while you're gone" Obi-Wan offered quickly. "That won't be neccessary" Windu turned down the offer. "Seen as she has a lightsaber now I might as well let her tag along". "You mean I get to on a mission with you?" Ana asked in diebelieve. "I believe that's what I said. Now come along, I still need to introduce you to Admiral Kilian and Captain Trip" Mace answered, the girl following him with a wide smile.

"Hey Ana" Obi-Wan called after the girl who immediately stopped and turned around to look at him. "Have fun and don't do anything stupid, alright?". "I'll do my best" the girl replied with a smirk. "Anabeth, hurry up!" Windu's slightly annoyed voice echoed down the hallway. "I better run" Ana excused herself as she turned around and stormed out of the door after her Master. "I don't know about you, I keep on liking that girl more every time see her" Master Gallia said to Obi-Wan and Yoda the second Ana was gone. "That does tend to happen with her" Obi-Wan was quick to agree with her statement.

Windu and Ana had soon arrived at their cruiser and were making their way to the bridge. Anabeth looked around in amazement as she followed her Master through the hallways of the ship. "General, everyone is on board and we are ready for departure" a voice rang though Windu's comlink. "Very well. Have the cruisers take off immediately. We'll jump to lightspeed as soon as we're out of orbit. I'll be on the bridge in about a minute, there's someone I'd like to introduce to you".

Master Windu shut off the comlink before looking over at Anabeth. "Before I introduce you to the Admiral and the Captain and thereby officially give you the rank of Commander I want you to understand that this isn't a training scenario. This is reality and I don't want you to take what you'll be doing likely. Beeing a Commander is a big responsibility. There are real people that are depending on you and it will be your job to lead them. There is little room for slip ups so I need to know if you feel up to this".

"I like to think so" Ana was a little unsure of what to say. "I guess that will have to be good enough for today" Windu responded, regretting his choice of letting Anabeth come along for a moment, thinking that she could have probably used a little more time at the Temple before her first mission. It was too late to send her back though, so he simply had to hope that the girl was better prepared than she looked.