Destiny (Star Wars)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Anakin hefted Obi-Wan's unresponsive body onto his shoulders. Gesturing for the Chancellor to follow them, Ahsoka and Anakin rushed for the elevators. Ahsoka reached it first and called the elevator, but the door didn't open.

"Elevator's not working," she grumbled.

Anakin pulled out his comlink, "Artoo, activate elevator 3224."

There was no response from the droid. Anakin was just about to ask again when the ship lurched. Ahsoka lunged forward and grabbed the bottom of the door frame of the now open elevator shaft. Chancellor Palpatine grabbed onto her leg to avoid sliding down the hall. Anakin clung to the frame next to her with his gloved mechanical hand, the other holding onto the unconscious Master Kenobi.

The ship was now fully horizontal, so Ahsoka took advantage of the situation. She helped the Chancellor grab onto the door frame and then climbed up into the elevator shaft. Since it was now sideways, it was just a long hallway. Palpatine clambered up after her, and Anakin took her offered hand to get up while carrying Obi-Wan.

"We can't wait," Ahsoka said, "we'll have to be fast."

They started running down the shaft. For a few moments, Ahsoka thought that they wouldn't run into anymore problems until they had to leave the elevator shaft. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

The Invisible Hand started to level out again. They kept running for as long as they could, but the ship had righted itself very quickly. They lost their footing and began sliding down the elevator shaft. Ahsoka kept her hands on the side of the shaft, trying to find some wire or rope or ledge to grab onto.

At the same time, Anakin and Ahsoka closed their hands around a few loose wires in the wall, jerking to a stop. Luckily, the Chancellor had clung to Anakin's leg so he was still safe.

Of course, Obi-Wan chose that moment to regain consciousness. He slowly woke up and tried to look around, exclaiming, "woah!" when he saw that they were hanging from a wire in an elevator shaft.

"Easy . . ." Anakin said as Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around Anakin's chest to keep himself from falling.

"We're in a bit of a situation." Ahsoka stated.

"Did I miss something?" Obi-Wan said sarcastically.

The ship tilted again, and Ahsoka heard a disturbing screeching noise. Anakin grimaced. "Hold on."

"What is that?" Obi-Wan asked, all three Jedi looking up.

Ahsoka's orange face paled at the sight of the elevator dropping towards them at a nauseating speed.

"Oops." Obi-Wan said.

"Artoo, Artoo, shut down the elevator." Anakin said into his comm, but there was no reply.

"Too late!" Ahsoka shouted.

"Jump!" Obi-Wan advised, and they did.

They slid down the shaft again, but the elevator was catching up with them. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan pulled out their grappling hooks and unravelled them. Palpatine held tightly to Anakin's leg as they threw their grappling hooks.

The hooks caught, and they fell a few more dozen feet before they reached the end of the ropes and swung through an open doorway, just before the elevator went roaring past.

Ahsoka pulled herself off the ground, checking to make sure she still had her lightsabers and other gadgets. Anakin helped Chancellor Palpatine up.

"Let's see if we can find something in the hangar bay that's still flyable." Obi-Wan suggested.

"Artoo, get down here. Artoo, do you copy?"