Chapter 12:
We all go out to bury Anakin's mother. I stand silently because I didn't even know her, I don't know what to say. "I know that where ever you are, it's better there. You were the most loving partner a man could ever have," Cleigg says to the grave. I stand with my head down and hands lazily by my side. Anakin's hand and mine are close, almost touching. "Goodbye, my darling wife. And thank you," Cleigg says. The sadness of losing someone he really loved in his voice kind of hits me. I don't have any connections, just the Jedi Order. Annie walks a bit forward and I stay back with Miss Padme. He gets down on his knees and takes a handful of sand.
"I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom," Anakin says. "But I promise, I won't fail again." He stands up and I can just feel his combination of sadness and anger ooze out of him. "I miss you." I feel my eyes water up for him, and I blink them back. "So much," he says through his teeth. I hear R2 beep from behind us. Way to kill the mood. I look back as 3PO and Miss Padme does as well.
"R2? What are you doing here?" Miss Padme asks. R2 beeps.
"It seems he says he is carrying a message from an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Master Annie, does that name mean anything to you?" 3PO says. I nod. R2 beeps again. He leads us back to the ship and he takes us somewhere to play the hologram. Miss Padme sits while Anakin and I stand.
"Anakin, my main transmitter has been locked out. Please transmit this message to Corascaunt," Obi-Wan says in the hologram. Miss Padme turns around and transmits the message. "I have tracked down the bounty hunter named Jango Fett to a droid factory on Geonosis. The trade federation has detect to a droid army. And it is clear that Gunray is behind the attacks on Senator Amildala. They have pledged their armies to Count Dooku and.. Wait," Obi-Wan pulls out his lightsaber. He blocks shots and a destroyer droid comes into the screen.
"That can't be good," I mutter. The hologram from Obi-Wan goes away and one from Master Windu comes in.
"Mara, Anakin, the most important for you is to stay where you are," Mace says. I sulk my shoulders in disappointment. I want to go to Geonosis and get some action going on. "Protect the senator at all costs. That is your first priority." I toss some hair from my face.
"Alright," I sigh.
"Understood," Annie says. Mace goes away and I roll my eyes.
"They aren't going to reach him in time. They'll have to go halfway across the galaxy. I say we go," I blurt. "We're a lot closer."
"If he's still alive," Anakin says and walks across from me.
"I bet he is, he's a smart man," I reply.
"You're just going to sit here and let him die?" Miss Padme says. "He's your friend, your mentor."
"He's like my father," Anakin says. "Mara, you heard him, he gave us strict orders to stay here."
"I know," I sigh.
"He gave you strict orders to protect me," Miss Padme says. I'm starting to realize where she's going with this. I look at her and smirk. "And I'm going to help Obi-Wan."
"To protect her, we have to go with her," I look at Annie. C-3PO sits by R2 and I stand behind Anakin so I can try to understand how flying works. Good gosh, there are so many bright colorful buttons. I steady myself as we lift off and go.
"This controls the speed," Anakin smiles at me. I nod and look at a button, bright red.
"And that?" I ask and point to the button.
"Guns," he grins. I chuckle and look at Miss Padme, who is smiling at us. I roll my eyes and see us go to another sandy planet, a darker red than Tatooine. We zoom through canyons and I see a lot of nothing. Miss Padme looks up and straight forward.
"Do you see the columns of steam up ahead?" she asks. I look forward and see what she's talking about. "They're exhaust vents of some sort."
"That'll do," Anakin says. He turns to them and lands in one. I see nothing but smoke in front. I stand up straight and back up.
"Alright, let's be ready," I put my hand over my saber. I've always seemed to be great with weapons. From blasters to sabers.
"Look, whatever happens out there, follow my lead," Miss Padme directs. "I don't want to be getting into a war here. As a diplomatic member, maybe I can find a good solution out of this."
"Brilliant," I smile at her. "Stick close to me Annie," I elbow him jokingly. We walk out and I try to see. Anakin sees a door and I'm starting to see it too. He touches it and presses something, and it moves. It opens and I start to walk in, hand on weapon. I have to duck to get in, this was obviously meant for Geonotians. The door shuts as we all get in here. "Cozy," I say sarcastically. I walk cautiously with them behind me. Miss Padme leads and we enter tunnels and I walk by Anakin. My fingers touch his. I hear movement and I stop and start to look around. Nothing. Anakin stops walking because he notices I did. I turn around and look behind me. I pull out my lightsaber and I turn it on. I defend myself from the Geonotians that are trying to hurt me. I hear the buzz of Anakin trying to help out. One Geonotian scratches my hand and I chop it's head off. Miss Padme runs to the other door we were walking to and I run and take Annie's arm. I almost push Miss Padme. The platform underneath us falls back as the door closes. She falls and I do too. I land on my back, a bit far from Padme.
"Mara!" Miss Padme calls. I hear pounding and I look to where Miss Padme is. There's a pounder coming in her way.
"Oh man. Padme!" I warn. I look behind me and I see Annie slicing a Geonotian. I stand up and try not to touch the hot metal by me. I try to run to Miss Padme and she runs under the pounder series. I look back at Annie and see him very busy with his lightsaber. "Annie!" I call. He runs off the track and I see a pounder right in my way. My eyes widen and I run under the series of pounders, hoping to find Miss Padme. I run and jump over welders and I try to be quick. I finally see Miss Padme and she's being attacked by a Geonotian. "Padme!" I yell and run to her. I turn on my saber, but I'm too late, the Geonotian pushed Miss Padme into a cauldron. "No!" I yell. I slice the Geonotian in half and I see the cauldron go away. I run to where I just saw Annie jump up from. I see him have his arm pressed and I feel my jaw drop. He sees me.
"Mara!" he yells. He doesn't sound in pain, just sort of scared, and I look ahead of him and see why he's scared. There's choppers. I run to him and almost am metalized myself. I scream in shock. "Mara!" he yells again.
"I'm trying!" I yell back. I run to him and fall on my back, next to Anakin. He holds me close and tries to avoid the blade. He lets go and I turn the other way to avoid the other blade. It cuts the ends of my hair. I turn back to Annie as the blade lifts. That's not the end though. I stand up and Anakin knows exactly what to do. Double blades are next. He avoids them and a half of his saber skips by me. He's screwed. He stands up and I avoid the blades to get to him. He tries to light up his saber, then finds out he can't. I stop by him and see him look disappointingly at his chopped lightsaber.
"Oh, not again. Obi-Wan's going to kill me," he sighs. I hear a jetpack come down to us. I pull out my saber and a destroyer droid shoots it out of my hand. I look at the jetpack man.
"Don't move Jedi," the man says. "Take them away." The destroyer droids close in on Annie and I.
"Great," I mutter.
