𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕒𝕔𝕪 - 𝔸 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕎𝔸ℝ𝕊 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝕐

12 - THE RISING STORM

(Songs: Who Is She - I Monster)

"So which part of the situation do we have under control?" Mae yells at Caleb while fighting off three troopers. Caleb threw the one attacking him down on the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's not like YOU were supposed to be watching the hallway!" Caleb pushed the troopers head to the ground knocking him out cold.

"Yeah! That's cute! Just blame me! You're such a suck-up to Leia and Ahsoka." Mae elbowed then took the blaster of one of the stormtroopers and shot the other two down.

They had got caught. It was an accident, not really something Mae or Caleb could have controlled. The poor, late to the hangar, ship mechanic who saw them took his opportunity for a promotion. The alarms blared.

Caleb, looks up at her, glaring. "Shut it. I mean it. At the troopers are out of the hangar now. That will help Poe and Ahsoka."

"But not us."

"No. Not us."

Mae looks at him unimpressed. She was about to say something snarky when rows of troopers start coming down the hall towards them.

"Come on!" Mae grabs him and they run.
They run back dodging heavy fire. They fall back into a room, with a long platform across it. There are only two ways to get out. They either had to fight through the troopers or make the long unsafe run for the opposite hall.

Mae pulls off her lightsaber and Caleb takes his out as well, nodding to her. The troopers fire at them without stopping, so the rebels redirect the blasts back to them. A blast hits Caleb's lightsaber and it falls from out his hand. He swears and Mae is quick to move in front to cover him. They were running out of options.

"We need to split. Get back to Ahsoka. I'll distract them and come find you!" Mae yells to Caleb whose bleeding from his arm, his own lightsaber has nicked him when it fell into the open pit behind them. It was gone forever now. He stood behind her and had managed to rip off and wrap a bit of his shirt around his arm. He held it tightly.

"I can't leave you here!" He yells back.

"We're just improvising!" Mae saying deflecting the last of the closest trooper's blaster fire with her sabre. Then she held the door close with the force. A poor troopers hand holding a gun was cut off with the door closing. Ouch.

"Well, I don't like it," Caleb says and runs in front of her.

"Well, we have no choice." Mae doesn't look at him, she focuses on her hand still holding the door shut with the Force, and with her mind breaks the button. She lowers her hand.

"What about that?" Caleb points to a vent closer to the ground. She turns her head to look at it and almost laughs. It reminded her of a story her father told her about how auntie Leia got the trio stuck in the waste disposal on the Death Star.

"I'd bet you 10 credits it's a trash compactor, so hell no."

Caleb huffs. "Fine, then I'm staying with you."

"No. You were right before. A distraction is needed to keep the troopers away from the hangar, and I can do that. You can sneak back down the hall."

He looks at her with desperation and conflict. "But- there's Kylo, how can you-"

"Lieutenant. I'm a higher-ranking officer, and I'm ordering you to go." She uses her commanding voice, but she looks at him softly, begging almost. "Do you trust me?" She whispers.

Caleb wants to object, but it was the best plan. He was pretty much useless now. "I do. God, I do, but is this worth the risk?"

"It is." The Resistance was counting on them. Mae knew if Leia chose to send Mae for this mission it wasn't for no reason.