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

Chapter 23: Devestated

LUX BONTERI

After gosh-knows-how-long of running through alleys in town, Lux and Ahsoka finally stopped to catch their breath.

They had just narrowly escaped a confrontation with Darth Vader himself, one of the head honchos of the Empire.

Luminara, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

She had been slain by her former apprentice before she had time to react.

Suddenly, Ahsoka collapsed.

"Dear Force," Lux said, rushing over to Ahsoka. "No, no, no! Don't pass out, we still have to get out of here!"

"I don't know if I can make it..." Ahsoka said. "I don't have any energy left..."

"Ahsoka, stay strong. We'll find a way offworld, I promise."

The sound of an LAAT gunship flying started to buzz through the air, and it was about to sweep the alleyway.

"Quick, behind this crate," Lux said, dragging Ahsoka behind said conveniently-placed crate.

Thankfully, whoever was piloting that LAAT didn't bother with checking every last detail, so they were good.

"Luminara..." Ahsoka groaned after the gunship passed over. "She... I failed her..."

"I'm sorry, Ahsoka," Lux said, "but we can't change that now. All we can do now is get out of here alive, and hopefully keep your child as well. Now, tell me, does it hurt anywhere?"

Ahsoka's eyes rolled back into her head, and she passed out.

"No!" Lux said. "Do NOT pass out! we have to-"

Lux was interrupted by the beeping of Ahsoka's commlink.

"Oh, that poor droid," Lux said. It was undoubtedly R7 trying to contact them.

He turned on the commlink, and R7 was beeping frantically at a high speed.

"No," Lux said, in an attempt to reply to the droid. "Ahsoka's passed out. How did you make it out of there without getting scrapped?"

The droid continued to string together a string of beeps and boops that Lux could only barely understand.

"Look," Lux said, "I think you can track this commlink to where we are. Can you bring a speeder, or something, please? I need all the help I can get right now."

The droid gave an affirmative beep and shut off the commlink.

"Alright," Lux said to the unconscious Ahsoka, "Let's see where it hurts."

He took the robes off of Ahsoka, and his heart sank as he realized how bad her condition was.

There were multiple burn marks, mainly from getting shocked by electrostaffs and maybe even a few blaster shots that hit her. In order to run across town, she must have simply held herself together by her own sheer willpower.

"Oh, kriff," Lux said, "That can't be good."

Thankfully, though, upon closer examination, the wounds did not seem all that severe. Lux could still feel a pulse, and she was surely still breathing. From what it looked like, Ahsoka wasn't going to die from these wounds. However, whether or not her child could do the same, he did not know. 

He knew Togrutas were more resilient than Humans, thought the effects that would have on their child, he did not know.

So he placed his hand on Ahsoka's stomach, and Reached out to their child through the force.

Sure enough, he could still sense the life within her.

"Thank force," Lux said to himself. "They're gonna be okay."

A few minutes had passed, and Ahsoka had finally regained conciousness again.

"Are you okay?" Lux asked.

"I can't say I am," Ahsoka said, trying to sit up. "Though it certainly could be worse- agh,"

"It's okay, 'Soka," Lux said. "Just lay down, and keep your force signature hidden, or something like that. We can't afford another run-in with Vader and those Inquisitors. R7's okay, he contacted me, and I told him to bring us a speeder or something."

"What good will that do?"

"We could leave the town and head for one of the larger cities," Lux said. "We'll probably get tracked or followed, but it's our best option. They're sweeping this town, and it's only so long before they find us, now-"

Ahsoka's commlink beeped.

"That's probably R7," Lux said.

Ahsoka picked up the commlink.

"Yeah, R7?" Ahsoka spoke into the commlink.

More droid beeping came through the communications.

"What?" Ahsoka said. "Yeah, I'm... well, I'm not okay, but I'm also still alive, so that's always a plus. What speeder did you bring, and where are you?"

There were more droid beeps through the commlink.

"Wait," Ahsoka said, "What do you mean you brought Something else?"

Suddenly, an Imperial Shuttle passed overhead, and landed right in the middle of the road outside the alleyway.

"You gotta be kriffing me," Lux said.

The ramp lowered, and R7 rolled down it and beeped frantically.

"He says to get on board, quick!" Ahsoka said.

"This seems like a VERY BAD IDEA!!!" Lux replied.

But he still complied anyways. He picked up Ahsoka and carried her on to the shuttle.

The sound of TIE Fighters and LAATs approaching could be heard, and they were undoubtedly after R7.

They quickly got in the ship, and R7 wasted no time in getting it off the ground, starting to fly off before the ramp had even started closing, and he started frantically firing whatever guns the ship had at any TIEs unlucky enough to get in his line of sight.

"Lux," Ahsoka said.

"What?" Lux replied.

"Lux, I... I failed..."

"No," Lux said, "So long as we get home, we'll have saved so much."

"You were right," Ahsoka said, "This mission was a bad idea."

She sighed.

"That was Anakin, wasn't it?" Lux said suddenly.

Nothing but silence from Ahsoka.

Lux sighed.

"You told him Obi-Wan left him to die on Mustafar, but that he could sense he survived. I Imagine that's what the suit was for."

After a long silence, Ahsoka finally spoke.

"I still don't want to believe it," she said. "I thought- no, I knew he would never do anything like this. It just... It's just all so hard for me. It's just so much pain. And it's all my fault because I left him. I... By saving Luminara, I just thought I'd be making up for my mistakes, fixing whatever I could."

"We're not fixing anything," Lux said. "We're building something new. You, me, our child, Lyda, Rex, Morra, Katooni... they weren't even on the council, and... well, Rex isn't even a Jedi! But they're all still such great people. And we still have them."

Suddenly, the ship started shaking.

"What's that?" Ahsoka said.

She looked out the front window, only to see a Venator-class Star Destroyer approaching them.

No, they were approaching it.

"Tractor beam!" Lux exclaimed.

R7 let out a string of angry beeps.