Chapter 32: Battle for Geonosis

… Should probably get while the going is good. If the Padawan is giving me a chance to run, I’d be an idiot not to take it… Tylo’s shoulders slump a little as he hears those words from Bo-Katan’s mind. However, he can’t quite say whether it’s relief or dismay that he’s feeling. Both, maybe? On the one hand, he wanted her to stick around. On the other hand, he probably SHOULDN’T want her to stay around… Heh, no one ever accused me of being smart though, now, did they? “Sure, I’ll stick around and offer my services. Why wouldn’t I? Helped build your little Clone Army up from nothing, right? I haven’t done anything wrong.” Bo-Katan’s abrupt mental one-eighty is nearly enough to make Tylo’s head spin. He can’t quite hide his reaction as the mood whiplash causes him to look at her sharply, eyes incredulous. Luckily for him, Bo-Katan doesn’t read too much into it. Instead, she just laughs and stands up, suddenly grabbing him by the front of his crotch. “When’s this Grand Master of yours due to arrive?” And just how much time do we have for some more nookie? Swallowing thickly as she casually gropes his cock, Tylo… reaches out and somewhat hesitantly wraps an invisible hand around her throat. As far as Bo-Katan is concerned, there is no hesitance in it, as he carefully tightens his mental grip on her neck, making her gasp and then choke a little bit. He can tell, without even reading her mind, that it’s the right move. Bo-Katan is FAR from being tamed, even now. The Mandalorian woman isn’t the kind to just roll over and accept dominion, especially not from a Jedi Padawan like himself. And yet… and yet, she’s too curious not to want to stick around. Not for the Jedi, or for the Clones, but for HIM. And if Tylo wanted to keep her interested in him, he would have to keep it up. And be very careful about toying with the Dark Side as he did so. Feigning complete and utter confidence, the young Padawan gives Bo a wicked smile, as he reaches out and runs his actual hands along her absolutely gorgeous, chiseled body. “Within the next few days. Which means… we have a little bit of time left.” Bo-Katan gurgles, her eyes alight with avarice… and Tylo just chuckles, as they move things to the bedroom. Is this the smart thing to be doing in advance of Master Yoda’s arrival? Probably not… but after the day he’s had, he needs to relieve some serious stress. And luckily for him, Bo-Katan is right there, eager to help. -x-X-x- After days of worrying that Master Yoda’s arrival would herald some greater confrontation, especially with Bo-Katan sticking around, the actual events are almost… disappointing. He’d been building the meeting with Grand Master Yoda up in his head so much, that when it finally happens, Tylo is a bit taken aback by just how… easy it all goes. In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have expected anything else, to be fair. Still, he thought the centuries-old Jedi Master would have a nose for Dark Side use, or something. Luckily, Tylo had spent the hours just before Master Yoda’s arrival meditating and cleansing himself of any bits of harsher, more negative emotions that he could find. And when the Grand Master finally arrived, well… Yoda had other things on his mind. Literally. From what Tylo heard, the ancient and wizened Jedi Master was troubled by far too much to concern himself with Tylo personally. Beyond a quick “Done well, you have”, Tylo was barely spared a second glance, in fact. Which was… just fine with him, really. Even if he’d let himself get distracted by Bo-Katan’s wiles and hadn’t managed to find out any further information about the Clones from the Kaminoan Databases, he still knew more than he should. And he still had full intentions of getting that information to his superiors in the Jedi Order, as soon as possible. Unfortunately, trying to deliver that information to Master Yoda ON Kamino itself seemed ill-advised… especially when the Jedi Master’s arrival had been immediately followed by them marshalling their new troops for war. To say Tylo was uneasy with all of this would be an understatement. On the one hand, he could tell that Yoda was just as uneasy about it. But on the other, he could feel the Jedi Master’s resolve. Indeed, Master Yoda was worried about what the Clone Army would mean for the Jedi Order’s future… but even more worried about the Jedi Order’s immediate present. Apparently, Master Kenobi had been captured after chasing Janga Fett to a planet called Geonosis. Apparently, Annie, Padme, and Aayla had somehow ended up there, captured as well. To say Tylo was concerned about… all of this, would be the understatement of the century. This was way more than just a simple chase at this point. The people who had hired Janga Fett were making their move in a big way. Master Windu and every Jedi he could muster had headed to Geonosis ahead of time, to try and save Obi-Wan, Annie, Padme, and Aayla from their purported executions. Master Yoda, meanwhile, had come to pick up the Clones to go and reinforce them. It was all… very messy. Luckily, this meant that the Jedi Grand Master didn’t really have time to question Bo-Katan on her loyalties too much. Although, Tylo had a feeling that Bo-Katan claiming she was with HIM would eventually come back to bite him in the ass whenever Master Yoda wasn’t quite so distracted any longer, especially with the Look the Jedi Master gave him. Regardless, they were underway within the hour. The Clone Army had been ready to launch for weeks, apparently, and while this disquieted Grand Master Yoda as much as it disquieted Tylo, the wizened Jedi wasn’t in a position to refuse. Tylo personally wasn’t sure they would even be needed, but Yoda seemed to think they would. He seemed… almost afraid. It’s only when they get over the planet of Geonosis and begin deploying gunships that Tylo feels it. He and Bo-Katan are on a different gunship from Master Yoda, but even he feels the pain through the Force. There are Jedi down on the surface. Jedi who are fighting… and dying. It is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most death in the Force Tylo has ever felt. Even these last several years of off-world missions with his Master have not prepared him for this. No, rather, nothing could have prepared him for this. The anguish that Master Yoda was experiencing, Tylo could feel it even from the hundreds of feet that separated their two gunships. If Tylo, as just a Padawan, can feel so much pain, so much death, he can only imagine what the Jedi Grand Master is going through. As they swoop in, it’s to find only a handful of the Jedi that Master Windu had taken with him to Geonosis still alive. Alive, but surrounded. For a moment, it looks like the fighting has stopped… but then Mace Windu says something that doesn’t quite carry over this distance, and all of the battle droids surrounding them are suddenly weapons hot again. Luckily, the gunships arrive just in time. “Around the survivors, a perimeter form!” Master Yoda’s order echoes over the radio, and the gunships all circle the arena, before settling down to do as the Grand Master commands. Droids are destroyed in droves, while the remaining Jedi in the arena are quick to hop into the gunships. For a brief moment, Tylo makes eye contact with Annie as she, Padme, and Obi-Wan all hop into one gunship that’s not his. But from this distance, he can’t hear her thoughts… in truth, surrounded by this many people, many of them clones, he can’t hear much of anything but a faint white noise. Then, the moment is over, and Tylo has much more immediate concerns, because all of the sudden Aayla Secura is hopping up into HIS gunship, and his eyes are widening in happiness as he and the blue-skinned Twi’lek quickly embrace. “Master! It’s so good to see you safe!” Aayla spares half a moment for a quick inhalation of his scent, before she pulls back and gives him a broad smile in return. The gunship begins lifting off beneath their feet, every gunship slowly doing the same. “You as well, Padawan. You as well. It has been… a hectic week to be sure.” Tylo nods, wincing in sympathy. Yeah, if he’d had it rough… well, he could only imagine how it had been for Aayla, Annie, and the Senator. “You were right to warn me by the way, Padawan! We stopped by Tatooine on the way to Naboo… Padawan Skywalker’s mother is alive because of our caution!” His eyes widen at that, Aayla’s expression taking on something of a wolfish quality to it. Tylo could only imagine what might have happened. Unfortunately, right now was not the BEST time a long drawn out story. Aayla had more to tell him anyways. “This… all of this is the work of a former Jedi Master, young Padawan. A man named Yan Dooku. He left the Jedi Order after Qui-Gon’s death. He was his Master, you see!” As their gunship rises up over the rim of the arena finally, the battlefield of Geonosis is laid out before them. The whole planet is rapidly turning into a war zone. The majority of combat-ready Clones are concentrated in this one place, the massive army flowing over the arid desert planet is in turn met with another massive army however… and Tylo’s mind boggles at the sheer number of battle droids he sees in every direction. He thought it was wild back in the arena, but this? This was insanity. “They’re calling themselves the Separatists! They’re trying to secede from the Galactic Republic! But… it’s worse than that, Tylo.” Tearing his eyes away from the battle below, he looks to his concerned Master. Reading her mind right now is impossible, unfortunately. Maybe if their gunship wasn’t flying in formation with half a dozen, but as it is, there are hundreds of minds all around him, and picking out Aayla’s ‘voice’ in that storm is… difficult to say the least. Perhaps he should have found a way to train his mutation, because it’s in this moment that it’s failing him. “Count Dooku… has fallen to the Dark Side. He tried to turn both Obi-Wan. When he refused, he was ready to have him executed, along with myself, Padawan Skywalker and Senator Amidala. Obi-Wan even told me that he said the Senate was under the control of a Sith Lord!” The buzz words send a jolt through Tylo’s body. For a moment, he feels unquestionably guilty about his own recent dips into the Dark Side. But when Aayla speaks those final words… the Senate under the control of a Sith Lord? Somehow, Tylo just knows in his heart that it’s true. And if that’s true, combined with what he knows about Kamino and the Clone Armies? They’re so fucking screwed… “Padawan… who’s this?” Ah, Tylo blinks, pulled out of his momentary musings by Aayla finally noticing that one of the ‘troopers’ in the gunship with them is not like the others. Indeed, while everyone else in the gunship wears stark white armor, Bo-Katan is dressed in her usual Mandalorian gear. Helmeted up, the red head juts out her hidden chin in Aayla’s response, as the Jedi Knight sizes her up. “Master! This is Bo-Katan Kryze… one of the templates for the Clones who Master Yoda brought to help us save you. She’s helping. Bo-Katan, this is Jedi Knight Aayla Secura, my Master.” There’s a brief moment where the two women just stare each other down, but before anything can actually happen, before any words can be said, a shudder rocks their gunship. They aren’t damaged, but they do all have to stop and hold onto something to be avoid being thrown clear very briefly, as the pilot gets the LAAT back under control. It’s here, in the midst of clinging on for dear life, that Aayla notices something ELSE Tylo would have preferred she didn’t. “Padawan… where is your lightsaber?” Now, it should be said, Tylo is NOT unarmed. Rather, he has a lightsaber at his waist… it’s just not HIS lightsaber. Indeed, Grand Master Yoda had brought a spare along to lend to Tylo, since they were almost certainly going into some sort of battle. But Aayla, who had helped Tylo build HIS lightsaber, had immediately noticed the moment she finally turned her attention to it. For a moment, Tylo is embarrassed… until he jolts, realizing that technically, his lightsaber SHOULD be on planet. “It’s… aboard the bounty hunter Janga Fett’s ship, Master! I lost it during their flight from Kamino!” Aayla’s eyes widen at that, and then narrow. “Reach out, Padawan. Can you feel it, in the Force?” Tylo grimaces but does as he’s told to the best of his abilities, focusing on what he can feel, reaching out… and indeed, he can feel his lightsaber, the Force Imprint calling to him and not from all that far away either. “… Yes, Master.” “Very good. I caught sight of the bounty hunter in the fighting. Master Windu disarmed her… literally. But she’s almost certainly still alive, and we might need what intel she has for us.” Aayla’s eyes flicker to Bo-Katan, and she lowers her voice to a whisper over the loud thrum of the gunship’s engines. “Tylo… can she be trusted? Or do we leave her with the troops and go this alone?” Tylo’s mouth opens and closes a few times, as he finds his mind experiencing a tumult of different emotions all at once. In the end, his response is rather weak, even to his own ears. “Shouldn’t… shouldn’t we be helping the other Masters hunt down Count Dooku, if he’s behind all of this?” Aayla blinks at the thought, before grimacing. “I’m not entirely certain that’s a good idea, Padawan. He is beyond me. Certainly, he is beyond you. We must focus on the things we CAN affect, and let others handle the things we know we cannot.” Aayla’s words ring with some truth, but part of Tylo wants to force the matter. It’s the part of him that knows… Annie Skywalker will almost certainly be in the thick of things, even if she’s no more a match for this fallen Jedi Master than he would be. Still, his Master is right, isn’t she? And as much as he’s always had far too much control for being the Padawan Learner in their relationship, maybe it was time to heed her warnings. Or should he push it anyways? And regardless, DID he trust Bo-Katan with this? Did he dare to sideline her, after she’d agreed to come along this far? Damn it all. War really was fucking hell.