Thirty minutes after Anakin and his group had captured a Banking Clan frigate and escaped Tyfex, they reached the fall-back destination where the General hoped Admiral Yularen was still waiting. The familiar blue funnel associated with interstellar travel vanished from around the frigate, sending it back to sub-light speeds. Three damaged Venators and two Acclamators could be seen out of the bridge viewports, letting Anakin breathe a sigh of relief that the fleet was still holding position.

"Snips, contact Admiral Yularen." The Jedi ordered his apprentice, the Togruta still standing by the ship's COM console. "Let him know this is a friendly ship."

"Yes Master," Ashoka responded, relaying the message to the fleet officer. After a brief exchange of text, with attached confirmation codes, the Republic fleet made no move to fire. "The Admiral has ordered the fleet to stand down Master."

"Good," Anakin replied, making his way out of the bridge, "Let Captain Drex know that Vibro is free to head to the Resolute, then set the self-destruct." While his padawan did as instructed, Anakin motioned to the clones, "Meanwhile, we'd better do the same."

The assault team fell in step behind their mission leader as they moved out of the bridge and toward the starboard hangar, Ashoka catching up not long after. The clones kept their weapons ready, knowing there were still a few droids on board. The group reached the assault shuttle without incident, however, and took their familiar spots in the vessel. Where the hangar's deflector once stood had been replaced with a blast door that barred both access and exit. A burst of laser fire from the shuttle's forward cannons eliminated the obstacle and allowed the Nu-class assault ship to break away from the Separatist frigate and angle toward the Republic fleet. The Separatist frigate disappeared from the scanner boards halfway to their destination, bringing a smile from Anakin at the vessel's destruction.

Anakin expertly piloted the craft into dorsal hangar 2B, exhaling in slight relief upon seeing that Vibro Squadron was already there. The weary battle group moved out of the shuttle. Now that the clones were safely extracted from a potential battlezone, their adrenaline was starting to recede, fatigue taking its place. Despite their exhaustion, however, they waited for their mission leader to dismiss them. The Jedi offered it upon his and Ashoka's approach. "Excellent work, all of you. Now get some rest. We'll need it, judging by the looks of things in here," Skywalker continued after taking a cursory observation and noticing the varying level of damaged systems and repair teams rapidly moving about the hangar. "Mission debriefing will be twenty-four hours from now."

Captain Rex called the squad to attention, snapped off a crisp salute to the General and spun on his heel to the right, marching for three paces before resuming a casual walk, his squad mirroring his movements. Anakin watched them leave the hangar, making his way to Vibro Squadron once the assault team left the hangar. Captain Drex spotted the Jedi Knight and his padawan on their approach, offering a salute once they moved closer. "Captain," Anakin said by way of greeting, "Is everyone accounted for?"

"Yes General, we all made it back fine."

"Impressive piloting out there Captain, you and your squadron." Anakin said with a grin before moving away from the Squadron Commander.

"Thank you sir," Drex called back after getting over his surprise. Many sentients, both in the Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, were familiar with Anakin Skywalker's legendary piloting prowess, to get a compliment from him on piloting skills was an achievements as rare as it was confidence boosting.

Anakin moved toward the bridge of the Resolute, Ashoka falling in step beside him. The Republic General could feel some fatigue in the back of his mind, a glance to his side revealed the source of the feeling. His Togruta padawan walked with heavier steps, her eyes almost half-closed. A small smile tugged at the corners of the Jedi's mouth, he knew his apprentice would follow him to both observe the first things he did after a mission and to conceal how tired she was really feeling. He had no doubt that the last thing on her mind would be to go to her quarters, she was too prideful to admit that she was exhausted, something Anakin himself had experienced during his days as a padawan. The Jedi stopped in the hallway, Ashoka taking a few more steps before she realized that her Master was no longer following. "Master?"

"I can sense your fatigue Ashoka," Anakin said with a slight smile. "I know you don't want to admit it," He hastened to add when Ashoka looked ready to retort. The Jedi stepped forward and placed a hand on his apprentice's shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "I'm telling you this as your friend Snips, you need your rest."

The General thought he saw her orange skin look darker for a moment, but it passed shortly after. "Alright Skyguy, I'll turn in." Ashoka shot a mock-scowl in his direction, "Just don't do anything without me this time."

Anakin raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Ashoka, we're on the Resolute. What could possibly happen?"

"Who knows?" Ashoka spoke with a smile, "You're on board the ship now Master, anything can happen."

Anakin narrowed his eyes in response, though his apprentice could still see the amusement reflecting in them. "Hilarious,"

Ashoka laughed at his sarcastic muttering as she left for her quarters, a departing wave issued to her Master.

The Jedi continued his walk to the command centre, taking note of the increasing amount of repair crews working to patch the cruiser into serviceable conditions. The circuitry and conduits underneath the deck plates were replaced, with new plates being welded overtop of those that had been left damaged in the battle that had occurred hours before.

The bridge was a hive of activity, officers directed repair teams to the more critical areas of the ships while crewmen performed the tedious task of conducting diagnostics on the ship systems, attempting to contain the damage that was threatening to spread. Admiral Yularen looked at the reports forwarded to him by repair team supervisors, the general condition of his cruiser had gone from acceptable to disastrous. The flagship officer knew the only way to get his ship operational at all would be to spend at least three days in drydock. With the engines still offline, however, there was no way the Resolute would be moving to lightspeed.

"Admiral, report," The commanding tone made Yularen turn to see General Skywalker moving toward him, his concerned expression regarding activity on a command centre usually only seen during a battle.

"Extensive damage to the fleet, sir, all of the starboard batteries need a complete refit and the engines are currently disabled, but we have repair crews working constantly to bring them back online. The Arrestor and Pinnacle have similar difficulties with their engines, along with a destroyed fire control centre on the Arrestor."

"How did all the engines get damaged?" Anakin asked incredulously, it was clear that it hadn't happened during the battle above Tyfex.

"We were infiltrated by the Separatists sir, their ships must have boarded ours during the battle. System malfunctions were detected at 0100 hours. Security Team Six was ordered to investigate and reported contact with commando droids, other teams reported contact soon after." Yularen sighed as he looked around the bridge, "The attacks were designed to draw away our attention, the engines were the real target."

Anakin nodded solemnly, "Repair status?"

The Admiral paused to study a datapad given to him only a few minutes ago, "Last report from the other ships puts the timetable one hour from now sir. Once the repairs are complete, we'll be heading for Bestine." The former intelligence officer looked at the General expectantly, hoping he would concur with the logical course of action. Yularen almost exhaled in relief at Skywalker's agreeable nod. The Republic General strode out shortly after, leaving the fleet officer to oversee the repair tasks of the naval task force.

Anakin moved away from the Resolute's bridge, the Admiral's mention of a skirmish with security teams swarmed his mind and, before he knew it, he was already heading toward the medical bay. The brightly lit section of the recovery room was at maximum capacity, the wall integrated bunks occupied by clones either unconscious or squirming at the pain slowly receding from their bodies. Anakin could feel their silent anguish, the pain flooding his senses enough to make him grimace. Despite the strong feelings in the room, a sizable amount of pain emitting from a clone in the far end drew the Jedi closer. The Republic General could see why the trooper was in so much pain, his face had a diagonal incision that started at the right eye and moved down to the left jaw-line. The wounded clone was slowly shifting in silent agony, the bacta strips on his face having been removed to reveal the still open wound beneath.

Bacta foamer residue could be seen on the wound, a fact which let the Jedi know why the clone was in such distress. Unlike the Bacta tank, the Bacta foamer was a portable version that dramatically boosted the body's natural healing along with the substance's own ability to regenerate damaged tissue. Unfortunately, the substance's effects were more forceful than its larger tank counterpart, resulting in an exceedingly painful process. Seeing how deep the incision seemed to be, Anakin was surprised the clone was still conscious, let alone only silently moaning.

The trooper should have been given a sedative awhile ago, but a quick glance around the medical centre showed that the medical staff had their hands full tending to the clones still in need of treatment. Anakin placed his hand on the clone's forehead, using the Force to temporarily numb the nerves around the wound, alleviating the pain. The uneasy stirring ceased, leaving the soldier to continue his sleep undisturbed. Anakin took his hand away and whispered, "Rest easy trooper."

The General continued his rounds, using the Force to dull the pain from recovering clones. He entered the treatment section, his mere presence seemed to make the clones more tolerant of the aches in their system. A few of those in the room were clones who Anakin had worked with previously and he made a point of greeting them first.

Though the majority of the ship's garrison was composed of the elite 501st Legion, there were those who functioned as both crewman and armed response teams, their duty to maintain ship functionality and security. While Anakin knew the names of the majority of those serving under his command, the identification for the security team soldiers escaped him, but he asked them their names, their condition, and their report on what happened.

Slowly, Anakin learned of the droid commando's tactics. It was not until he met a trooper named Spike that the last piece fell into place. Commandos had lured the clone's team to the ship's secondary generator room; Spike expressed his belief in their desire to wipe out the majority of the ship's response forces in that room alone. "A full platoon was waiting for us, sir. I don't know what happened to the crewmen who were stationed there, we never found any bodies." Spike trailed off, his eyes developing a far away look as he relived the memory.

"Go on," Anakin gently pressed.

Spike snapped himself out of his musings at the Jedi's words, relaying the rest of the event to him. He told the General how they had started retreating to the second floor, only to be flanked by a lone droid. The clone spoke of how he had moved to the main terminal to restore functionality to the secondary generator, while Charger held off the droids. He continued, saying he had tended to his comrade's wounds, reported to the bridge, and then waited for an emergency team to arrive.

"After the medics carried them away, I was sent to the engine room to reinforce a group that had just sent a contact report. We engaged a squad of droids, but they were only a distraction while another droid sabotaged the transpacitor."

Anakin grimaced at that information, now understanding why Admiral Yularen expected the repairs to take so long; the transpacitor was what kept the engines running at stable levels. Waste by-products from both the ion engines and hyperdrive were siphoned away from their respective systems, preventing internal damage. Any ship going into hyperspace with a damaged transpacitor would be forcibly thrown out of the faster than lightspeed plane when the thermal buildup became too much. Emerging from lightspeed without control to an unknown set of galactic coordinates could, at best, result in the ship crashing into a planetoid or spatial anomaly while, at worst, the sheer force of slipping back into sub-light speeds would be too much for the hull to handle.

The Jedi Knight expressed his thanks for the information, wishing Spike a fast recovery before heading out of the medbay and to his quarters. The fatigue he'd been suppressing since capturing the Separatist frigate started to catch up with him along the way. By the time he reached his quarters, Anakin barley had the energy to strip off his purchased armour. He managed to put on some light sleep wear before his exhausted form collapsed onto his bed. The lull of sleep was too strong for even a Jedi to resist for long.

()()()

Anakin sprinted across a plain, his heart beating faster, not from exertion, but from fear. He briefly wondered why he felt such an emotion, but those thoughts were quickly dispelled once he saw his padawan fighting a figure wielding a crimson lightsaber. Green and red blades met in a clashing of energy, Ashoka and the unknown party slashed and hacked at the other, with neither side gaining any leeway. The still sprinting Jedi felt a brief sense of hope that his padawan would succeed, but it faded once he saw the aggressor press its attack. Ashoka's attacks turned to pure defence in her efforts to redirect the blade of her opponent. A malicious laugh sounded from the figure, a voice that Anakin believed vaguely familiar.

Seeing his apprentice in such distress, Anakin tried to move faster. Ashoka continued to retreat away from the advancing figure, but he pursued her relentlessly. An overhead strike was aimed at the Togruta's head, but it was blocked at the last second. The strength of the unknown attacker was unexpectedly strong; he slowly pushed her lightsaber toward her. Ashoka was concentrating so much on keeping her own blade away from her face that she failed to prevent a hand from snapping out and gripping her throat. The young apprentice moved her blade to sever her attacker's appendage, but such an action was expected. The unidentified individual casually brought the crimson lightsaber in a sweeping motion that cut through Ashoka's lightsaber hilt, leaving the green blade to extinguish. Before Ashoka could do anything more than cringe, a ruby coloured blade pierced through her stomach, eliciting a muffled cry of pain from the Togruta, her corpse dropping to the ground once the hand released her throat.

"NO!" Anakin could feel his apprentice's death through the Force and he screamed in rage, his blue blade igniting with a snap-hiss now that he was finally close enough. He jumped at the attacker, his Force empowered leap taking him within striking distance in a matter of seconds. The Jedi didn't hesitate in swinging his lightsaber at his target. A flicker of surprise showed on his face when the strange bipedal shadow seemed to dematerialize before his very eyes. Anakin turned back to his padawan, only to find that she was also gone. Blackness crept along the sides of the Republic General's vision, the shadow's maniacal laughter still echoing in his head.

()()()

Anakin shot up out of his bed, his breathing heavy and his mind troubled. His first thoughts were if his dream was real, despite the fact that he recognized his surroundings. His mind was still frantic with the imagery he'd just barred witness to and he wasn't about to take any chances. Stretching out with the Force, the Jedi directed all of his effort into searching for his padawan's unique signature. He exhaled in partial relief when he located the Togruta in her quarters, her signature still reading strongly.

Anakin knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so he moved out of his bed to get dressed, donning his usual brown and gray tunic. The Jedi turned to leave, but stopped when he caught sight of his brown cloak by the room's storage compartment. Acting on an impulse he couldn't explain, the General grabbed the piece of cloth and donned it on his person, moving out of his quarters to a secluded area.

With it still early morning, according to standard galactic time, there weren't many people, officers or crewmen, wandering the halls. The former slave moved to the cargo hold of the cruiser, utilizing a lift and navigating his way through several corridors before reaching his destination. The storage compartment was an enormous room, rows of durasteel shelves were lined with large containers that stored everything from spare parts to ship munitions. At the far end, however, there was an empty space wide enough for the very thing the Jedi had come to room for, lightsaber practise.

The nightmare he'd just experienced had left him feeling more than a little on edge. Most Jedi turned to meditative trances to refocus their mind and gain a semblance of control. Anakin, however, found such techniques to be far too slow for his liking, so he turned to the one thing he knew was guaranteed to work, combat. The lack of any simulation rooms in a Venator Star Destroyer though made lightsaber practise the next best thing.

Igniting his lightsaber, Anakin ran through a quick flurry of sequences in the more aggressive form of Djem So. A style that drew from the user's physical strength, Djem So focused on utilizing more aggressive tactics than normally expected from a Jedi. In combat Anakin was able to focus solely on the task at hand, bringing any other thoughts to the back of his mind. It was this effect that he tried to reproduce through lightsaber drills.

The Jedi started with the first sequence of the form he'd perfected shortly after his engagement with Count Dooku on Geonosis, bringing his lightsaber down in aggressive downward strokes. He moved into the next set of known sequences to the form, occasionally adding his own personalized styles- styles that utilized elements from Ataru and Juyo- into the mix. Eventually, Anakin was deeply immersed into his own personally created sequences, swiftly transitioning between flurries and overhand swings as he imagined utilizing the form against waves of battle droids.

The Chosen One's created technique utilized elements of precision, broad aggression, and domination, adding a sense of unpredictability to the Jedi's movements that had taken more than a few combatants by surprise. Anakin often found himself skirting a fine edge when in combat, his technique often favouring the use of domination rather than precision.

An hour passed before the Jedi stopped his practising, his deactivated lightsaber back on his belt as he took a moment to let out several deep breaths. With his mind clearer than it was when he first awoke, Anakin doubled back to the dormitories, passing through the first stirrings of activity aboard the Resolute now as troopers and technicians continued the repairs of the flagship. Sensing Ashoka's presence as he stood outside his padawan's room, the Jedi Knight used the Force to open the door to her quarters and stepped inside.

Started awake by the sudden flood of illumination the young Togruta's large blue eyes snapped open, her hazy vision finally registering whose form stood in her doorway after a few blinks. "Master?"

"Get up and meet me in the cargo hold, we're going to be practising your lightsaber techniques."

Taken aback by the complete seriousness in her Master's tone, it took her a moment to register the words 'practising' and 'lightsaber.' "Really?" She asked, almost springing out of her bed in excitement.

Seemingly numb to his padawan's display, Anakin only offered a nod in confirmation. "Move quickly."

His part said, the Force Sensitive retreated back to his previous location, leaving an exuberant apprentice to quickly get her room rearranged and her equipment on her person.

Several minutes passed before Ashoka came barrelling into the cargo hold, blue irises scanning for any sign of life as the Togruta slowly picked her way through the storage racks. "Master, where are you?"

A slight tremor in the Force gave Ashoka the impression of danger to her right, a warning she instantly responded to by activating her lightsbaer and bringing the weapon to a defensive stance. Rather than be met with the gray coloured alloy of a vibroblade as she expected, however, Ashoka found herself facing the blue lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. "Master, what are you doing?" The Togruta frantically called as her mentor attacked with a quick sequence of flurries swift enough to press her defensive abilities to the limit. "I thought you were going to teach me!"

"I am," Anakin responded, "First lesson: never let your guard down."

Capitalizing on Ashoka's show of disbelief, the Jedi struck out with his blade in a wide swing, stopping the action when the azure blade was a mere inch away from her face. "Lesson two: never hesitate."

Deactivating his lightsaber, Anakin moved to the other side of the storage hold that he'd previously occupied during his own practise sessions, his padawan following silently behind.

"The time has come for your training to expand to the next stage." Anakin said as he moved a few metres away from his apprentice. "Your lightsaber drills will be improved and refined."

Ashoka's earlier startled demeanour started to fade away at her mentor's words, the excitement that had been all but extinguished during the brief ambush flared to life once more. "When do we start?"

The withdrawal of two training lightsabers from Anakin's cloak answered Ashoka's question. Engineered to be similar in design to standard lightsabers, the only thing distinguishing the two variants was that training lightsabers were constructed with a permanent low power setting. This made them ideal for instructional purposes as the blades could only inflict burns and bruises upon the skin, nothing beyond.

The Jedi tossed one of the weapons to his apprentice, who snatched it from the air and held it, activated, in a ready stance. Anakin activated his own training lightsaber after a few seconds and engaged his padawan, swiftly closing the distance between them as he started raining blow after blow down on Ashoka. He was holding back of course, for as talented as Ashoka was for her age, she was nowhere near Anakin's level of prowess. The Jedi Knight stood rooted to the spot, his blade moving in flurries and overhead strikes that kept Ashoka moving with her usual style of grace, the whole purpose meant to avoid such strikes completely, rather than deflect them.

"Your brand of agility draws from elements of Ataru, a style than relies on evasion until an opening for an attack presents itself. Tell me," Anakin said as he disengaged from the attack, temporarily stopping the duel, "What do you do when no such opening presents itself?"

"I….," Ashoka began, her mind struggling to find an answer to such a question. In the end, however, she couldn't come up with one. "I don't know Master."

"The simple answer Ashoka, is that you don't. You remain forever on the defensive, slowly draining your energy until you are at your opponent's mercy." The Jedi took a moment to breathe when he realized he was letting his anger over his dream control his tone. "It's a pattern in your attacks I've seen you do countless times. When you're confronted with an opponent as aggressive and skilful as yourself, or more so, you fall back to defensive measures. And that," Anakin said slowly as he looked his padawan in the eyes, "Is unacceptable."

With that, the former slave rushed his apprentice, training blade bearing down on its target. The Togruta tried to take her Master's advice to heart, attempting to counter his aggressive swings and thrusts with her own sequences. Her efforts proved to be futile, however, and it wasn't long before she found herself falling back to the defensive.

"You're doing it again," Anakin said as he continued the attack. "Concentrate and use the Force Ashoka. You know how to use this weapon, so make use of it and attack me!"

The Jedi Knight's sharp reprimand sent Ashoka's blood boiling, her anger swelling as she couldn't help but feel frustration at her lack of progress. Coaxing that feeling towards her, she used it to enhance her perceptions and counter her Master's movements with aggressive parries meant to throw opponents off-balance. She harboured no delusions that such a technique would work on Anakin, but it was enough to convince him that she was at least trying to do as instructed.

"Good!" Anakin shouted to be heard above the sound of the twin energy blades clashing against one another. He continued the exercise for another few minutes before stepping back once more. "Now that you have the right mindset, I can teach you how to truly become an aggressive combatant. It's time you learned the basics of Djem So."

()()()

"Again!"

The shout made a look of frustration cross over Ashoka's face as she ran through the first sequence of Djem So. Two hours had passed since her Master had broken down the basics of the first Djem So sequence. In that time, the apprentice had been struggling to perform it flawlessly. Each time she thought she had it right, however, the General would only shake his head and tell her to try again. The Togruta tried breaking the entire sequence down into every single individual movement, practising each one at a time until she was confident the correct motion had been memorized. Even then, however, her Jedi mentor would point out the smallest of weaknesses in the stance. She was starting to wonder if she would ever get it right.

"Incorrect," The sharp reprimand rang out once more, forcing Ashoka to grind her teeth to prevent herself from shouting back at her Master. The young padawan started the sequence once more, attempting to flawlessly perform the movements.

"Your downward swigs are coming down too sharp, Ashoka." Anakin spoke again once his padawan had repeated the sequence.

"Master, I don't see the purpose in correcting such minor errors! It's not like it's that much of a problem!"

Ashoka cut herself off when she finally registered the fact that she'd been shouting. The silence that followed was unbearable, to the point where Ashoka found herself squirming with apprehension. She didn't dare speak again though.

"Attack me."

Anakin's soft, but firm, spoken command threw Ashoka off guard. "What?"

"Attack me," The Jedi repeated simply. "Using the sequence you've been practising."

"Okay," The Togruta replied dubiously, waiting only a moment longer before she leapt at her Master, training blade at the ready.

She started with the quick overhead strikes, alternating between vertical and angled forms of attack. Horizontal swings, aimed at the upper body, came next. After several seconds of such an attack, Ashoka smoothly transitioned to the final stroke, the one considered to be the killing blow in the sequence, the downward diagonal strike. Before the Togruta could get very far into the movement, however, her blade was slapped aside, an action followed by a brief burning sensation on her abdomen.

Anakin lowered his training lightsaber after dealing what would have been a lethal strike, his padawan looking at him with a flash of anger in her eyes. "What was that for!"

"Instruction," The Jedi repeated with a hard tone that instantly cooled the Togruta's anger, replacing it with a look of trepidation. "You said you didn't see the point in correcting minor flaws in your stance, so I demonstrated why correction is necessary. Because your angle wasn't perfect when it first came down, your blade missed my shoulder by a few centimetres, giving me the opportunity to turn the tables. Now do you understand?"

"Yes Master," Ashoka replied in a defeated manner.

"Good," Anakin replied, pointing to the location where Ashoka had been practising before; a silent order for her to move back to her original position. Once she had taken up a ready stance with her training blade again, Anakin deactivated his own training lightsbaer, folding his arms as his eyes settled on his apprentice. "Again."

With both mentor and learner focused solely on the lesson, Ashoka going through movements imparted onto her by Anakin while he scrutinized her from afar, scanning for the slightest error, the first indication the two had of the hours that had passed was when Captain Rex entered the cargo hold, telling Skywalker that everyone was ready for the mission debriefing.

Anakin had originally told Ashoka to take a break, but she had requested to come along so the two Force Sensitives followed the clone officer to the briefing room of the Resolute. All of the clones present rose to their feet at Anakin's entrance, only sitting back down once the General told them to.

"I'm not going to go through the usual protocol for this debriefing," Anakin said simply as he turned to face Bypass. "Were you able to decode the Separatist transmission?"

"Yes, and no, sir," The clone slicer replied as he activated the holoprojector in the centre of the room and linked up his datapad.

A galactic star map appeared, thousands of stars and planets visible. Slowly the view centred toward the inner rim, with the map shifting toward the starting location of the Rimma Trade Route. Two worlds were highlighted in red as Bypass spoke, "It took some work to narrow the search parameters this time General. The transmission was sent with an anti-tracer, one that gave me hundreds of possible origin points. I managed to eliminate all but two of these ghost signatures," The clone said as he gestured toward the two planets on the star map, Giju and Bassadro.

"So how do we know which one is the planet we're after?" Ashoka asked with a glance at Bypass.

"We don't Commander," The slicer responded simply, "One of these worlds has a ghost signature embedded in it, but it's impossible to decipher which one."

"Wait a minute," Rex said as he studied the star map. "Giju, that world has a Republic garrison, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I remember reading about that," Ashoka piped up excitedly, "They were one of the few worlds in that sector to stay with us during the galactic split."

An armoured glove pointed toward the other planet highlighted as Rex gazed at the map, "Now Bassadro, one the other hand, was one of the first worlds to secede from the Republic."

"So that's where we should go next!" Ashoka finished with a slightly triumphant tone at solving such a puzzle.

While she got a confirming nod from Rex and the others, Anakin shook his head. "No, our next destination is Giju."

Rex and Bypass shared a glance before the company commander spoke, "With all due respect sir, it makes more sense for us to continue our investigation on a Separatist controlled world."

"Why is that? We already know there's a Republic turncoat behind this and the only way to uncover the person's identity is to investigate our own worlds."

"True sir," Rex began cautiously, sensing the strong resolve already present in his superior. "But we have no idea where the transmission would deviate from Republic channels to Sep ones. I think we'd find more answers if we continue scouring enemy planets."

Anakin only shook his head in response, "I appreciate your insight Captain, but Giju is our next destination once the fleet has been refitted. Speaking of which, have we made the jump to Bestine yet?"

"Yes sir, Admiral Yularen took the fleet into hyperspace approximately five hours ago. He estimated our time of arrival to be two days from now." When Anakin's expression turned to surprise, Rex elaborated. "The Admiral is pushing the hyperdrive as much as he can General; he's not sure how long the ships will be able to maintain lightspeed travel."

"I see," The Jedi said slowly. He had expected to have more time to focus on Ashoka's training, now it seemed he had been denied a few days worth of additional instruction. "I want all of you to take the next two days off," Anakin said as his gaze shifted to the clones at large. "Something tells me you're going to need it."

"Yes sir," Rex responded, a hint of surprise colouring his tone, "Thank you sir."

Anakin nodded, the briefest of smiles on his face before he left the room and headed for the COM centre, Ashoka following.

Ten minutes passed before Anakin's issued Priority One COM tag was answered by the High Council. The Jedi must've been discussing operations with the Supreme Chancellor, for Palpatine was present alongside Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Ki-Adi-Mundi and the Grand Master himself, Yoda.

"Ah, General Skywalker," The Chancellor greeted warmly.

"Your Excellency," Anakin replied with a bow, switching his attention to the High Council members and repeating the gesture. "Masters."

"What do you have to report, Skywalker?" Windu inquired.

"Our investigation at Kiflor is complete Master. Evidence we obtained on the planet has lead us to Giju, a world in the Inner Rim."

"And a world still in the Republic," Palpatine said after a moment of thought, "If I'm not mistaken."

"That is correct Chancellor," Anakin said with a nod.

"And your investigation has led to no other worlds?" Mace asked in a confirmation seeking tone.

"No Master," Anakin lied, not bothering to inform the Council of the possibility of a Separatist world being a likely candidate. He knew more information could be found on Giju, he wasn't about to let anyone question his decision.

The only one who knew about the lie was Ashoka but, other than a soft gasp and sharp glance to her Master, she made no indication that Anakin was being deceitful.

"How soon will it take you to get to Giju Anakin?"

"I'm afraid the investigation will have to be delayed temporarily Chancellor, as our fleet is currently in need of repair. We were ambushed by General Grievous' forces above Tyfex and sustained massive damage. Three of our Acclamator II's were lost with all hands and our remaining ships are lightyears away from battle ready conditions at present."

"Right now we're heading to Bestine for supply and refit, our ETA is two days. After that, our fleet will continue with the investigation at best speed. I would like to request some additional support, however; the loss of our Acclamators has left us severely undermanned as a task force."

"An important observation Jedi Skywalker," Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke, "But we have no forces in reserve that we could possibly spare."

"Perhaps we could reassign another naval group instead," The Supreme Chancellor suggested.

Yoda and Mace Windu shared a glance before the Grand Master spoke, "Suggest we sacrifice a world's defence, do you?"

As sigh escaped the political leader's lips, "As much as the prospect pains me Master Jedi, I don't see another way. The possibility of a traitor within our government terrifies me far more than whatever the Separatists can do to an undefended Republic world. That being said, however," The Chancellor quickly continued, "We should choose a world both close enough to the Core so as to guarantee security, but near enough to Bestine to quickly give General Skywalker his reinforcements. I think Aargau would be the best choice," Palpatine finished after a long moment of consideration.

Anakin nodded in understanding, "Hyperspace travel to Bestine would take about four days from there. Hopefully our ships will be underway by then."

Though the young Jedi was quick to support the Chancellor, the High Council members were not so accommodating. "This is a dangerous move," Windu said gravely, "Aargau will be vulnerable during this time."

"No more vulnerable than any other Republic world," Palpatine countered lightly. "Besides, it is well within the established security zone for the Core Worlds."

"Even so," Windu continued with narrowed eyes, "The planet will be completely exposed to any form of orbital attack. Close proximity of reinforcements, even the presence of ground units, won't matter if the world is subjected to orbital bombardment."

"I agree with Master Windu," Ki-Adi-Mundi said in support. "It may appear as though the Core Worlds are out of the war, but the reality is much different from such a perception. Neimodia, for example, is less than twenty parsecs from the border of the Core World region."

"What would you suggest my friends?" The Chancellor asked, his focus solely resting on the High Council. "Should we simply tell General Skywalker to continue with his investigation, knowing full well that his task force would be unlikely to survive another engagement with the Separatists?"

The Jedi Masters went silent at that, none of them wanting to send a clearly outnumbered naval task force on a mission that would undoubtedly take them into combat. But, at the same time, they couldn't afford to postpone a high priority investigation.

"I don't think there will be a problem Masters," Ashoka said as she stepped to her Master's side. "Technically, Aargau is a neutral world. If the Separatists attack it, they'd run the risk of having thousands of other neutral planets join the Republic."

Silence met the apprentice's statement and she was beginning to think she had spoken out of turn once again. The appraising nod she received from her Master convinced her otherwise, however, and she smiled at him before looking back to the holoprojector in front of her.

"A valid point young one," The Chancellor said after studying here for a few moments with a gaze that unnerved Ashoka for reasons she couldn't explain.

"Indeed," Plo Koon said in agreement with the political leader's assessment. "With Aargau in the Core, I had forgotten that the planet has not formally chosen any side."

"Made, the decision is. Reassign the fleet above Aargau, we will. This investigation is important; the identity of this Republic turncoat must be exposed. Act quickly, you must Skywalker."

"I will Master Yoda," Anakin said with a bow to the Jedi Order's Grand Master. He paused for a moment before adding, "Where is Obi-Wan?"

"Master Kenobi is investigating a recent disruption on Tantro," Ki-Adi-Mundi said.

"The moon with our prisoner of war facility?"

"The very same," Mundi confirmed with a nod. "It seems that the base was infiltrated by an unknown party. The reactor was sabotaged and a riot broke out. More than a few Separatists were able to escape before order was restored, including Poggle and Emir Tambor."

Anakin felt his anger flare at that piece of information, after everything the Republic had gone through to destroy the enemy's leadership and bring the war to a quicker end; someone had ruined a more than a year's worth of progress. "Are there any leads?"

"None at present," Plo Koon spoke with a shake of his head. "Master Kenobi has only recently arrived, however.

Anakin opened his mouth, about to pose another question when Mace Windu cut in. "As distressing as Tambor and Poggle's escape is, you must remain focused on your own mission Jedi Skywalker. Your investigation could prove to be more important than the escape of two Separatist leaders."

"Yes Master," The Republic General reluctantly said with a bow.

The Jedi Masters gathered reciprocated the gesture, their holographic forms, and the Supreme Chancellor's, vanishing soon after.

"Take a break Ashoka," Anakin said as he turned to face his apprentice, "Go get something to eat and get some rest. We'll continue your training in a few hours."

The padawan acknowledged the command, heading out of the COM centre to the vessel's mess. "And Snips?" The use of her nickname stopped the Togruta short as she turned back to regard her Master. "Excellent work."

The apprentice's face broke into a wide smile at the praising words before she left for some well needed nourishment and rest.