It took many hours, two adventurous padawans, and many brave soldiers, but the key droid weapons factory on Geonosis had been destroyed. The battle turned in favor for the Republic and the Jedi that dusty day. Dakota had been there for every moment of it, and was now overseeing the clean up operation.
They were still missing Poggle the Lesser, the Geonosian leader who was responsible for all this mess. She intended to find him as well and bring him to justice.
"We're really sorry to leave like this, Master Ky" Ashoka apologized with Padawan Barris. The two were just about to board a gun ship and return back home to Coruscant "-there's still so much left to do" She motioned to the mess surrounding them on the battle field.
Dakota appreciated her concerns, waving them off "No worries you two, you've saved the day by destroying that droid factory. Now go home and rest, I'll keep you updated on things here"
"Yes Master" the Padawan's bowed. Dakota gave Ashoka a quick fist bump before the gun ship took off into the air, leaving her to watch from below.
Captain Rex approached the General once the gun ship was out of sight. He paused beside her, his hands linking together behind his back "When I leave this planet once clean up is over..." Dakota started "I can assure you Rex, that I'm never coming back" she crossed her arms, the taste of dust on her tongue.
"I'm right there with you General, those bugs give me the creeps" Rex agreed.
"The situation was even stranger the first time that we were here" she referenced to being tied to a pole in the middle of a geonosian arena not all that long ago.
"What happened, General?"
"I'm not going to get into it"
"Understandable"
Soon, General Kenobi would arrive on planet. They'd be working together to fix this mess that was left behind "We just sent out another team to search for Poggle" Rex informed, walking next to the General as they made their way across camp. Her hands were linked together behind her back. The black robes she wore still had dirt clinging to them.
"I think I may go out there myself" she contemplated, knowing that if she left, General Kenobi would still be there to lead the troops.
"Shall I assemble a team to go with you?" Rex asked.
"No, that won't be necessary. We need all the troops we can get here. There's still a lot to be done"
"Yes General"
~
Dakota stood on top of the highest rock platform that overlooked the camp set up below. From there, she could see the destroyed droid factory, as well as the scars left behind from the battle. This battle was different from the ones before. It was getting under her skin.
It's like the enemy knew exactly what their plan was the entire time. How could they know their locations, and cripple them that much? Again she thought of Mars, and how he perished in the battle here.
Those were the thoughts that plagued her mind as she stood above the Republic camp. A gun ship flew over her head and landed behind her on the ground "Am I interrupting a self-reflecting moment?" his familiar voice asked across the ground.
"I see that you're back to one hundred percent, old man" she fired back, hiding the smile on her lips.
"We're only a couple of years apart, Dakota. Nothing to get too proud over" Obi-Wan pointed out, coming to stand beside her. He surveyed the damage "What Ashoka and Barris did was really exceptional".
"They eliminated one of our biggest problems here, I'm so proud of them. Now on to the next one" she looked at him "This battle costed us many great clones, and the one responsible is still out there... ".
Obi-Wan could practically see what she was about to say before she could even say it "You plan to go out and search for him?"
"We can't spare any more clones to do so, and I was never that bad of a tracker so maybe I'll be able to pick up on his trail... maybe"
"I believe that you can, but going alone is never my favorite plan of action" Obi-Wan rubbed his chin, hoping to change her mind.
"I'm reminded of a time where you arrived alone on Geonosis with nothing but a lightsaber and a mullet, and ended up getting captured by Dooku. Was that you, or am I confusing you with someone else?" She asked, taking a step towards her speeder that was parked a meter away by the edge of the cliff.
Obi-Wan didn't respond, his tongue had been tied. He just gave her a blue eyed glare "Hold down the fort for me Obi-Wan, I'll keep in touch"
"Please do, we don't know if there's anything left out there"
She gave a thumbs up over her shoulder before taking off down the cliff with the speeder, and shooting off into the distance. Obi-Wan gave a hopeless smile and turned back to the clone troopers.
~
Conveniently, as Dakota started her search for Poggle, a vicious sandstorm had swept across the dust covered ground. Goggles covered her green eyes as her speeder swerved around in the nearly blinding terrain. Fortunately, she had been able to pick up on Poggles trail just before the full force of the storm hit.
He was heading for an abandoned temple many miles away from the Republic camp. She knew that Poggle wasn't smart enough to cover his tracks properly. The communication link on her wrist was blinking, signaling that someone, probably Obi-Wan, was trying to get in contact.
She neared the deserted temple, being able to see enough through the goggles. There didn't seem to be another soul in sight. Dakota pulled her speeder up to the gate of the temple and stepped off. A dark, ominous structure laid out in front of her. It looked rather haunted with its arching entrance. These sorts of things never frightened her.
She made her way to the blown open entrance and entered, finally being allowed to remove her goggles since the structure blocked off the wind and sand. As she unhooked her goggles, she turned on her small holo-projector to call back Obi-Wan and Master Mundi.
"Masters" she greeted the two Jedi once their holographic figures appeared from the projector "I'm here at the temple, and Poggle has definitely been here, but..." she looked around the destroyed foyer. Cracks in the ceiling caused for the building to collapse in some areas. And there also appeared to be solid geonosian statues scattered about randomly. Something seemed off here, she felt it.
"... there's no sign of him here".
"Don't go any further until we can send support" Obi-Wan ordered "This storm is making it hard for us to read your transmission as it is. There isn't much that we can do now"
She nodded her head, but still decided to take a quick look around, taking the holo-projector with her. Her footsteps hardly made a sound as she inspected the area "Are you sure that Poggle is in the temple?" Master Mundi asked.
"Yes, he definitely entered here" she nodded, approaching a massive hole in the floor of the temple that leads to the labyrinth of catacombs below the surface of the planet "I'm hypothesizing that he went into the tunnels below" she peered into the dark abyss of the tunnel.
"Those catacombs go on for miles, I fear we may have lost him" Obi-Wan stated "Get yourself out of there"
Dakota was bending down in front of the opening in the floor, using her foot to push the cover of the hole out of the way. She can be quite fearless in many situations, but she knew full well that this wasn't a job she could take on alone "Alright, I'll-"
Two pairs of bug like hands sprang up from the darkness of the hole, grabbing her roughly by the wrists and dragging her down beneath the surface.
~
Her eyelids were heavy. Everything that surrounded was dim, and an odd smell hung in the air. Tight restraints held her up above the cave floor. She blinked, feeling more disoriented then ever before. A low groan sounded from her lips "W-What the?" She mumbled, pulling on the restraints.
She lazily lifted her head up, finally noticing the dozens upon dozens of zombie like geonosians positioned everywhere in the room "Oh no" she breathed "Oh no" she tiled her head back, at last spotting the queen geonosian that towered above the others. Most of its body was just fat, and its eyes glowed rabidly in the dark.
It was the single most disgusting thing that Dakota had ever seen "Oh God, oh no oh no. Oh, it's so gross" she squeezed her eyes shut and looked away "This isn't happening, oh I can just here Obi-Wan's I told you so lecture".
"Oh, can you now?" Obi-Wan entered the dark cave in that moment with Anakin at his side. They had come to rescue her from this strange prison. She could sense the presence of Clone Troopers as well, although they were hidden in the dark. They must have been planning a surprise attack to be able to rescue her.
"I was about to leave the temple, I can assure you that... but the bugs had other plans for me" she narrowed her eyes to Poggle the Lesser, the geonosian that she had originally set out to find. He stood below her with the other zombie bugs that surrounded at all sides.
"You are the creatures that attacked Geonosia!" The queen bug exclaimed. Dakota cringed at her hair-raising voice "Why have you come before me?" She asked once Obi-Wan and Anakin had stopped before her throne.
"You're majesty, it is a pleasure to finally meet you" Dakota nearly rolled her eyes at his words "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is Anakin Skywalker. It is our sad duty to inform you that your rule is at an end"
"You do not dictate to me, Jedi! My empire is forever" the queen rose her arms up, gesturing to her zombie minions in the cave as well.
"I'm afraid that it doesn't appear that way, your grace" Obi-Wan admitted "You shall release the Jedi Dakota and submit to Republic law"
"I no submit to you!" The queen growled, her deep voice rang out through the walls. Dakota winced at the noise.
"Your Majesty, destroying us shall only make the Republics judgement of your harsher" Obi-Wan took a step forward.
"No Jedi, I no destroy you" the queen pointed "I devour you, I control you. I had one Jedi that Poggle bring me" She motioned to Poggle who stood before her "but now I have three. Now watch as my child enters your Jedi friend, and once inside, her mind becomes mine"
"I'll most definitely take a rain check" Dakota said, clearly opposing this plan
"It's a sort of mind control, a hive mind" Obi-Wan figured, rubbing his chin "She thinks she can posses us"
"Great, did you figure out everything you wanted to know yet?" Anakin asked.
"No wait, I want to see how it works"
"I don't think Dakota wants to see how it works!"
"I genuinely, wholehearted don't want to know" Dakota watched with wide eyes as the bugs walked closer to her with a slithering green worm in their hands. This has to be part of the plan, if not, the geonosian's will be dealing with a very unhappy Jedi.
"Speaking of know, which do you think it will enter, the nose or the ear?" Obi-Wan thought, asking for Anakin's opinion.
Anakin sighed "I think the nose".
The bugs aloud for the worm to slither up her shoulder and onto her face, her body tense with disgust "I don't care if this is part of your plan, just get it off of me" she said through gritted teeth.
"Not to worry, my dear" Obi-Wan obliged, immediately signaled for Commander Cody to turn their helmet lights on in order to blind the surrounding bugs. A bright ray of light flooded the cave. The bugs squealed in rage. Anakin cut her down from the restraints, catching her as she tumbled to her feet.
From there, it didn't take much time to escape the temple and bring the structure crashing down on top of the queen. The team all ran from the crumbling temple and out into the open dusty ground.
"I ought to knock you out" she mumbled to Obi-Wan when they were clear of the threat. The Jedi Master handed his friend her double bladed saber. She snatched it away from him, clearly angry with him for the rescue plan.
"Me?" he questioned, playing dumb "I saved your life back there"
"You know that I hate bugs, especially gross slimy worms" she shivered just thinking about it, still being able to feel it's presence on her cheek "I feel like I need to scrub myself"
"Obi-Wan initially wanted to keep one of those worms so that he could study it" Anakin added, raising his finger "Luckily I stomped it so that wouldn't happen"
Dakota crossed arms "See that? You can really learn a thing or two from your former Padawan, Obi-Wan"
"Oh, I'm sure I could" he rolled his eyes.
Beneath her sour attitude towards the two Jedi about the situation, she was grateful for their help. Obi-Wan already knew this.