Star Wars: The Clone Wars Episode 2.03 Children of the Force

"The first step to correcting a mistake is patience."

Newsreel:

A thief hunted! In a daring assault Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka boarded the warship of cunning bounty hunter Cad Bane to recover a stolen holocron containing a list of the galaxy's Force-sensitive children and future Jedi Knights After a desperate chase and duel with the villain, Anakin and his troops defeated Bane, but were forced to evacuate his doomed vessel without the holocron...

ACT I

The Separatist shuttle sets down within the Resolutes' hangar bay, and Anakin, Ahsoka and the clone survivors debark. His fellow troops commend Denal for taking out Bane, but Denal says little, and instead cradles his injured arm. As he walks away from the shuttle, Rex calls Anakin over for he's made a peculiar discovery: drops of alien blood on the shuttle deck floor.

Ahsoka notices Denal is injured, and checks on him. She realizes it's not Denal, and the trooper viciously knees Ahsoka in the midsection, knocking the wind out of her. Just then, Anakin surmises the truth: Bane killed Denal and took his place.

The imposter trooper races to the row of parked V-19 Torrent interceptors and quickly boards one. As he powers up the fighter, Anakin leaps onto the fuselage. Skywalker knocks the trooper helmet off, revealing Bane underneath. Bane shakes Skywalker off his hull and passes through the magnetic shield, blasting towards space and freedom. Skywalker hurriedly calls Admiral Yularen to lock down the hyperspace transport rings, but it's too late. Bane has docked with one and powered it up, launching the fighter into the safety of hyperspace.

On Coruscant, Anakin and Ahsoka report to the Jedi Council that Bane has been working with the Separatists, and that he has escaped. The Jedi Masters are most concerned: the holocron he stole contained a list of thousands of the most Force-sensitive children in the galaxy. Bane and his accomplices could now target the very future of the Jedi Order. Yoda hopes that through the Force, the Jedi will be able to anticipate Bane's next move.

At his hidden base of operations inside Black Stall Station, Bane contacts Darth Sidious with word of his success. The Dark Lord has a new assignment: he needs Force-sensitive children as test subjects brought to Mustafar. He tasks Bane to choose four children from the list.

In the inner quarters of the Jedi Temple, Mace Windu, Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin enter meditative trances. They seek out visions in the Force of children imperiled. Yoda and Obi-Wan see the jungle world of Rodia, and a house in Kay Tap square. Mace sees Glee Anselm, home of the Nautolans, but Yoda cannot corroborate that vision -- perhaps that child has already been lost. Anakin sees a Gungan child screaming in the southern village of Jan-gwa on Naboo. From these visions, the Jedi realize their next destinations.

In Kay-Tap, a Rodian toddler named Wee Dunn levitates a ball with his mind. He is strong with the Force. His mother, Mahtee Dunn, has already been in contact with Master Bolla Ropal about Wee's eventual entrance into the Jedi Order. A new Jedi has come to collect him -- in actuality, it's Cad Bane wearing a Jedi robe. Bane shines a hypnogazer into Mahtee's eyes, making her comply with his demands.

Obi-Wan's Jedi starfighter arrives on Rodia, and the Jedi visits the Dunn house. Mahtee coldly greets him at blaster point. Kenobi questions her, learning that Bane posed as a Jedi and has stolen the child. Running outside, he sees Bane making his escape with a wailing Rodian infant. Bane uses his rocket boots to blast to his waiting starfighter, the Xanadu Blood. Kenobi is too late as Bane's ship disappears into the sky.

ACT II

A gunship lands at Theed Royal Palace on Naboo. Anakin and Ahsoka emerge and are met by Captain Typho. The targeted Gungan family has been notified, and a Gungan officer, Captain Lunker, is heading up security in Jan-gwa city. Ahsoka is eager to settle her score with Cad Bane. She leaves with Lunker while Anakin confers with Typho.

That evening, the Xanadu Blood sets down by the waterfall-flanked bubble city of Jan-gwa. Under cover of darkness, Bane slinks into the city. Infiltrating a home, he sees a Gungan mother tending to a cradle. When the mother leaves, Bane goes to raid the crib, but finds a blanket covering a tooka doll instead -- it was a trap!

Ahsoka springs from behind Bane, catching him at lightsaber-point. Bane quickly ensnares her weapon with a lanyard concealed in his gauntlet. Disarmed, Ahsoka tumbles across the floor, avoiding Bane's blaster fire. He rockets away on his hover boots as Ahsoka retrieves her weapon. Before Bane can get much lift, Anakin grabs him in mid-air, dragging him to the ground. The two tumble into the Jang-wa city plaza, where Ahsoka awaits the fallen Bane with her weapon ignited. The chase is over.

Ahsoka secures Bane in binders, and retrieves her Padawan braid, affixing the jewelry back to her headdress. Anakin marches Bane away. The Gungan toddler, Roo-Roo Page, is safe.

Soon, Bane sits in a starkly lit interrogation room aboard the Resolute. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu loom over him, demanding to know where the two missing children are. Bane refuses to divulge their location, or who his employer is. The Jedi have pored over the Xanadu Blood, but the ship's navigational records have been wiped clean. The Jedi have few options. With Anakin's help, Mace and Obi-Wan intend to bind together in the Force to compel Bane to speak.

The Jedi use their Force ability to probe Bane's mind. They demand that he take them to the stolen holocron. Bane desperately tries to resist. He is ordinarily immune to Jedi mind tricks, but the concentrated focus of three Jedi is too much for him to handle. He finally breaks, agreeing to escort the Jedi to his hiding place.

In moments, a semi-circle shaped Jedi T-6 shuttle is prepped for departure. Mace, Obi-Wan and Anakin march Bane to the vessel. Mace receives word that Chancellor Palpatine wants an update into the investigation. Kenobi dismisses it; this is an internal Jedi affair and none of the Chancellor's concern. Skywalker, a friend of Palpatine's, insists that they keep the Chancellor informed. Anakin has effectively volunteered, so Mace and Obi-Wan continue to the shuttle, sending Anakin to Coruscant.

The shuttle leaves the cruiser hold, with Commander Cody guarding Bane. Bane provides the coordinates to a destination deep in the Outer Rim, and the shuttle disappears into hyperspace.

At the Chancellor's office on Coruscant, Anakin is greeted warmly by Palpatine, though the chancellor dismisses Ahsoka. In private, Anakin and Palpatine share words about Cad Bane. Palpatine seems impressed that a rogue operative could be so effective against the Jedi. Anakin suggests that someone more powerful must be behind Bane. Palpatine advises patience.

Some time later, on the fiery world of Mustafar, within a darkened nursery, Wee Dunn the Rodian cries. Hovering over his tiny form is a sinister hologram of Darth Sidious. A nanny droid, R0-Z67, tends to this child, as well as the Nautolan baby, Zinn Toa. Sidious's plot involves subjecting the children to surgical slave conditioning, turning them into an army of Force-talented spies in his service, trained in the dark side to peer into every corner of the galaxy from afar.

Bane's coordinates cause the shuttle to emerge in the asteroid-strewn Rogue Antar system, site of his deep space outpost, Black Stall Station. The Jedi leave Cody with the ship as they march Bane inside the darkened station. Neither Jedi sense the presence of the children. Bane tells them the children are safe, and concentrates instead on the holocron.

Inside the gloomy control room, the holocron gleams like a beacon. The Jedi take the lead, and Mace steps into the room, triggering an intruder alert system. Klaxons wail and hidden laser cannons emerge from the walls and ceilings. In addition to blaster bolts, more continuous stream lasers fire, keeping the Jedi occupied as they deflect the energy torrents with their lightsabers. Taking advantage of the distraction, Cad Bane disappears through a concealed hatch. Bane makes his way to an escape pod and rockets away from Black Stall Station.

ACT III

In the hangar of the Resolute, Anakin and Ahsoka continue examining the captured Xanadu Blood. Ahsoka is curious by the amount of volcanic ash the fighter has accrued in its travels. R2-D2 discovers that while Bane wiped the navicomputer clean of records, he did not purge the fighter's fuel computer. Anakin correlates the list of planets they know that Bane has visited with the distances and fuel consumption involved. Anakin then begins triangulating other worlds upon Bane's travels; it's an old Jedi trick used to crack down on smugglers.

The fuel computer calculations pull up Glee Anselm, Rodia, Naboo and Mustafar. The obscure volcanic mining planet planet stands out -- it was far off Bane's path of travel and not a known location of any Force-sensitive children. Anakin, Ahsoka and Artoo decide to investigate aboard the Twilight.

At Black Stall Station, Obi-Wan eludes the deadly lasers long enough to snatch the holocron. He and Mace scramble from the station as it suddenly detonates. The Jedi flee the exploding outpost aboard their shuttle.

The Twilight lands on the fiery world of Mustafar. Within Sidious' secret facility, RO-Z67 reports on the unexpected arrival. The holographic Sidious orders the children evacuated to his secondary facility, and to have this outpost destroyed by shutting off the gravity supports and letting it sink into the lava.

Anakin, Ahsoka and Artoo explore the empty outpost, sensing the pervasive presence of the dark side. They hear the wails of baby Wee Dunn, and chase the sounds to the spooky nursery. They find only empty bassinets, but quickly spot the nanny droids trying to make their escape. Hampered by having to be careful of the younglings, the Jedi try to stop the scurrying droids as the entire installation shakes apart. Ahsoka though is able to scure Zinn while Anakin safely rescues Wee Dunn from the station debris that plummets into the lava floe. The Jedi rush back to the Twilight as the entire installation is consumed by molten rock.

Back on Coruscant, Anakin and Ahsoka report back to the Jedi Temple. The Mustafar base was destroyed, taking with it any clue as to who was behind the plot. With Bane's escape, there's no way to follow up. What matters most is that the children are safe and the holocron was recovered with no record of the Kyber crystal list being duplicated. Still, Yoda still frets about the future of the Jedi.