Ahsoka, Daughter of the Light (Book 5): Rescue

Chapter 19: We Have to Leave Now

R7-A7

R7 was a loyal astromech droid. He would defend his owner by any and all means necessary. Of course, that opportunity rarely, if ever, came, since his master was Ahsoka Tano-Bonteri. Instead, he had to keep watch on the ship. If anyone came, he'd be ready, and he'd let his master know right away. Of course, it was preferred that no complications were involved, especially since he was just another astromech droid (even if astromechs were constantly underestimated, one couldn't stand up against an entire platoon of stormtroopers without full control of the environment, such as the ability to close blast doors and all that).

Whether or it was in the droid's programming to be unwaveringly loyal, or there was just something truly human about astromechs, it didn't matter. He'd do his job, no matter what.

Suddenly, R7 heard footsteps.

"Alright, let's check this place out," he could hear. "Let's see if there's anything useful we can salvage from this old hangar."

It was a stormtrooper. Or, rather, a few of them.

R7 quickly moved to the ship's cockpit and plugged himself into the ship's mainframe. If he had to blast anyone with the ship's weapons, he'd be ready.

"What's that?" said another trooper.

R7 took control of the ship's main cannons.

"Is that a covered-up ship?" another trooper asked.

The troopers pulled off the tarp that covered the ship.

R7 could see the troopers from out the cockpit window, and he could see them look at each other, confused. Well, their faces were masked by their signature helmets, but he could tell anyways.

"How long has this been here?" One trooper asked.

"Looks new," said the other one.

"Impossible," said the first trooper. "we'd've seen it come in on scanners."

"What'd you find?" said a commander, walking in on both troopers.

"Someone parked their ship here," replied one of the troopers.

"Is that a YT-1760?" asked the commander, looking at the ship.

"Sure looks like it," said the other trooper.

"I think high command has said that one of these is associated with a Jedi," said the commander. "This isn't something for you to handle. We'll have to bring in the big guns, and-"

R7 quickly spun the ship's turret and shot all three of the troopers.

Then, he grabbed his communications device and called Ahsoka, frantically beeping in droid binary:

"Imperials found the ship. I killed them, but reinforcements may come. Return immediately."

AHSOKA TANO-BONTERI

She had somewhat calmed since her rather emotional talk with Luminara. She had never expected her to show much so emotion, especially after what happened on Geonosis that one time. She had almost chosen to leave both her and Barriss to die, the latter being her very own Padawan.

Of course, there was still a lot to tell her about. She didn't know about how Rex was at the camp, or even about the inhibitor chips for that matter. Not to mention she was so caught up in explaining the backstory that she had totally forgotten to mention her pregnancy.

Of course, that didn't really matter, she could just tell her later.

"Where's Luminara?" Lux asked, coming out of the bathroom.

"Outside," Ahsoka replied. "She told me she was going to see when our window of opportunity to leave is. She's memorized the pattern of Imperial patrols and knows when we'll be able to leave."

"Oh, okay," Lux said. "I go to the only other room in this house, which is tiny, mind you, for the shortest amount of time, and she's gone now. Great."

He sighed.

Ahsoka couldn't help but notice that Lux was acting quite odd.

"Lux," she said, "are you okay?"

"I think," he replied. "Something's bugging me, I just can't tell what."

"Maybe it's because I dragged you here with almost no knowledge beforehand?" Ahsoka joked.

"No," Lux said. "Something's off. I just-"

Ahsoka's commlink rang.

"Hold on," Ahsoka said. "R7's calling."

She pulled out the commlink, and Lux heard a lot of the signature noise of an astromech beeping.

A look of worry fell over Ahsoka's face.

"What's he saying?" Lux asked.

"Imperial patrol found the ship," Ahsoka said. "R7 gunned them down but we can't risk staying any longer. Get your things ready, I'll tell Luminara we have to leave, and NOW."