There was another mission that Anakin would be sent on but it would seem that the timeline was stuffed up a bit because this was supposed to happen a year ago.
It would seem the butterfly effect was starting to happen, but it didn't matter too much given he could see the future himself anyway. Well, he could see multiple variables that would influence events that are to take place.
Any decisions and actions made would do so and any difference from how events usually took place from within his memories would be different more and more as time went on.
[]
The Mission to Dallenor.
This time Anakin would be going on another mission where he was to go to the planet Dallenor so that he could collect an ancient Jedi holocron from a dig site.
This dig site was called the Dallenor excavation and upon arriving on Dallenor, Anakin encountered a female Togruta archaeologist named Clatriffe. She was glad that he had arrived so he could take the holocron away due to the fact that it was causing problems.
She explained that the local pirates wanted to get it and she had to hire local guards to keep them at bay. Anakin had again travelled here with Jabitha and had some droids with him as well.
Some droids were ordered to stay outside to keep watch whilst he and Clatriffe went inside the facility to obtain the holocron. After they went inside, just as planned his droids noticed that the pirates had arrived.
Anakin and Clatriffe went out to meet them and were introduced to the Krypder Riders and their leader Hudso Shaku, who knew that the holocron was something important due to off-worlders wanting to get it.
Anakin went on to state that he didn't want any trouble but was willing to defend himself and others if need be.
He activated his lightsaber, whereupon Shaku ordered his pirates to attack him because he found the laser sword to be more valuable than the things that they dug up.
He quickly disarmed the pirates and quickly got to disabling and immobilizing his opponents. With Shaku knocked unconscious and the pirates' weapons destroyed, they surrendered to him which would later have them become imprisoned.
Anakin having retrieved what he wanted, well, what the Jedi wanted began his journey once again back to Coruscant.
He had no need to steal this holocron for himself as everything within the Jedi temple would become his anyway and be transported to his very own Order in the future. The current Jedi Order wont last very long, and when it crumbles, Anakin intends to plunder everything he could from the temple.
The holocrons included.
So there was no need to lie or hide away any Jedi holocron he comes across as basically everything he doesn't have now will become his in the future. He has patience but not so much so that he would wait an eternity.
There was also nothing else much to do on Dallenor so there was no need to extend his stay more so than he needed. There are much more things of much more importance to him elsewhere.\
More specifically the development of Tatooine and the system itself, he was planning to expand his region of influence. Sooner or later he would have a large region of space the would be called Skywalker space, something akin to Hutt space.
He had to consider his next target carefully, looking at location, resources, population, culture, and military might compared to his own so he could safely assume control.
He needed to also fabricate reasons to do so.
Politics are also still important for this aspect and he would need to become quite the elusive shadow to overcome this problem.
He would so with his Vader persona and what better way than to use a droid just as he had done before so he could be at two places at once.
'Now it is time for me to choose a target.' Anakin thought to himself.
[]
Barriss had many reasons and an extreme amount of feelings when it came to becoming Anakin's first padawan learner.
Among them were how she felt, but there were actually solid reasons for her desire, one being that he has been teaching her for a long time now. A lot of what she had learnt, how she has developed was the results of her own effort and talents but Anakin played a vital role so she could achieve it.
Another reason was familiarity, she was slightly afraid of getting a master other than Anakin that would be bad or goes against what she has learnt so far. Anakin had talked about how there was alot of Jedi who wouldn't make great masters for padawans.
Teaching would not be their strong suit.
Again, another reason is because she wanted to become stronger faster. She wanted to develop just like Anakin hoping that somehow he had some type of secret to growing up faster.
She knew that his development was not normal and should have been the result of something to do with either the Force or through genetic and biological manipulation. In fact he could have done both but none of that mattered to her, she would still want to stay with him.
Considering that she would even leave the Order, of which is supposed to be her home. It says alot about what she was willing to do for him.
Within the personalized training room, Barriss approached Anakin whom had recently come back from another mission.
"Ani?" She asked Anakin.
"Yes?" Anakin replied.
"I have decided that if you will have me, I want to become your apprentice." Barriss musters up the courage and states what she wants.
"And what helped you finalize your decision?" Anakin asked before answering her statement.
Barriss gave a sufficient answer. "For one I think you would train me to the best of your capabilities and train me to the best of my capabilities as well. Second, I have known you for a long while now and you know me which makes it easier for you to plan how my training will go."
Barriss continued. "My third reason is the resources, the resources you have access to from what I could tell are above those of the other Jedi. I am excluding other, more personal reasons but that is the gist of it."
"Those are some good reasons." Anakin said before continuing. "I think I will be present when you pass the trials, how does that sound?"
"Yes!" Barriss exclaimed outwardly and her hopes swelled at the prospect that Anakin was coming to the trials. "You wont regret taking me as your padawan learner! I promise."
"I am sure I wont." Anakin answered with a smile on his face at her excitement. "Now I believe that you should go back to practicing some more.
"Of course!" Barriss moved over towards the training droids while Aayla was now taking the opportunity to approach him.
Aayla had grown more and more attached to him, and strangely he had as well. He had investigated the source of their connection and went over what this could be because it was not a simple Force-bond between the two.
No, it was much more and there was only thing that this could be. After identification he determined it was some type of Force Dyad, of which he had no idea how it had developed but he had a few theories.
One such being that because of the way he had been reborn to its interaction with the Force plus other factors like him being more than just one soul, but two in one. He also was confused because from what he knew this type of bond would exist from birth but here there was no such thing.
He had been using and interacting with the Force for the entirety of his new life and had not been able to identify it. Another thing could be he wouldn't know about it until he meet Aayla physically but even then he didn't feel this bond at that time.
Not because he was blind to it but because there was none.
Something had to have happened which would lead to this and one of the reasons is probably due to the nature of who he is now.
The 'Chosen One' should not really have an equal within the Force, and a Force Dyad means that the one you are connected with would be equal in power to him but clearly she wasn't.
Anyway he had been growing and would reach his maximum projected height within the next year or so. He was currently two meters tall.
"Hey, Ani." Aayla called out to him as she came closer.
"Yeah?" Anakin responded.
Aayla doesn't reply and just goes in for a hug, something of which she had been doing more and more as she became more bold in her actions. So bold in fact that she didn't mind Barriss and Ahsoka seeing her affections for him.
He didn't mind either but he wanted to find a way to stop such a bond from being created unintentionally because it might have some negative effects. What if he connected with another man, how would he feel then?
He knows that is was supposed to be some rip off soulmate type ability and he would most definitely would only want to do so with women.
After the extended embrace she stops after doing so and asks him. "So... You are going to take Barriss as your apprentice then?"
"I have been thinking about it and I think it wouldn't be a bad idea." Anakin responded. "What about you? Do you wish to have a padawan of your own?"
Aayla responds. "No." She then thinks to herself. 'I dont want one because they would take up my time away from you.'
After having discovered the connection and delving deeper into it Anakin had discovered many features and one that was especially helpful was the telepathic link between the two. Of course Aayla started to use and abuse this as much as possible to be in his mind as much as she could.
That doesn't mean she didn't respect his personal space or anything, it just meant she would talk with him mentally as much as she could. If he was out on a mission she would do so even more often.
"I see." He responded verbally rather than mentally.
If he had to describe the relationship between the two of them he would say it was like being on the verge of becoming a couple but he had other things to do first. In fact he respected that the Jedi didn't allow relationships but he felt this was up to him and another party.
If it was going to go that far he would acquiesce.
The only thing is that because of his inherit traits pronounced by his experimentation he would want to be together with more than one woman. He desired many not only physically but also mentally and spiritually, it is apart of who he is and he wouldn't have it any other way.
Because it would be going against his internal nature.
When thinking about the Force Dyad he also wanted to find a way to recreate the effects and use it on another woman as well. Not only unintentionally with Aayla but intentionally as well.
For now however, he would continue to not fully engage with Aayla for the sole reason that he was still trying to find out how the had become connected.
He had one reason of how fully explained, it was because she was old enough to do so and probably had enough compatibility with his own Force energy and soul to do so. Even though it was an accident it is still legitimate.
When asking the Force for an answer all it did was show him the event that took place and this lead to him discovering why it had happened. He still wanted to find out how to stop this if necessary but it would seem that there is no method to stop it, but the Force gave an answer.
That answer being that he could control it.
'What are you thinking about?' Aayla voiced within his head while looking at him.
'Nothing much.' He replied on instinct mentally.
He really only liked to talk physically not because it was more comfortable or anything like that but because it is strange that you see two people talking to each other without talking. It is not often the Jedi use telepathy to talk with other and is not really practiced as well.
Reading another's thoughts or emotions is instinctive because of a higher midi-chlorians count making one Force-sensitive but that doesn't mean you can actually communicate with someone mentally.
Psychic abilities like this are uncommon.
'When do you go through with your next operation?' Aayla asked with some concern being transmitted through their bond.
'It will be sometime next year.' Anakin responded mentally again.
'You will keep your promise of allowing me to be there?' Aayla asked.
Sighing, Anakin replies. 'I will.'
Anakin had to keep to his promises now and it was not like she was going to expose him or anything, he had believed her especially since he confirmed what type of bond they now shared. It only became stronger with time.
Ahsoka having finished her classes for the day came to the training room and saw Anakin and Aayla just staring at each other. 'They are doing it again.' She had noticed it along with many others but they didn't decide to comment on the weirdness of it.
"Ani! Aayla!" Ahsoka called out running towards and attaching herself to Anakin.
Smiling Anakin pat her head. "Hello, Ahsoka."
"You two were doing it again." Ahsoka said which sobered up Aayla in her bliss of mentally communicating with Anakin, her bright smile on her face calming down a bit.
"We were?" Aayla always tries to play dumb in these situations.
"Yes. I saw the both of you, Ani, when will you allow me to do what you two do?" Ahsoka questions, genuinely curious about what the two were doing.
"Maybe sometime in the future, not now." Anakin responds.
Pouting, Ahsoka replies. "How unfair."