So! The first chapter of the re-made version of The Lizard War! *imaginary crowd cheers* I hope this one is much better than the first one I posted, considering all of the mistakes that were in it and all the fluff it had.
Rex tried to ignore the obnoxious music pounding his eardrums s he wove through the crowd. Of all the types of missions, undercover missions were his least favorite. He felt that, at times, they required more work than regular ground battles or space battles. Rex pushed past another group of drunken men and women in the spacious room. Orders were orders, though, so he moved on to find what he was looking for. Rex sighed and looked at the cavernous space around him. The ceiling was high, with fluorescent lights in hues of blue, green, red, and purple lined the ceiling, and there were raised stages spread in between the party-goers on the ground for the "special dancers"—whom Rex chose not to look at. On either side were bars manned by Weequays and Twi'leks. A light green Twi'lek woman with heavy makeup stepped out of the group and grabbed his arm.
"Hey baby," she said, her speech heavily slurred, "wherrre yer goingrr?" She let out a very un-lady like belch. Rex tried shaking off the woman, who had a surprisingly strong grip on his arms, considering how drunk she was.
"To the 'fresher," Rex lied.
"Ha-ha! Yer funny!" She laughed, even though what he said wasn't funny.
"Go away." Rex tried to pull his arm from her iron-like grip.
The woman just laughed even harder.
"Hey, Rex!" He looked over his shoulder to see Ahsoka making her way through the crowd of the nightclub. He sighed in relief.
"Hey," she said, panting slightly, "We're needed in the back." She looked at the woman still hanging on to Rex's arm. Ahsoka glared at the Twi'lek, throwing in a little bit of the Force to take advantage of her inebriated state. "You can go away," Ahsoka said. The Twi'lek woman looked at her for a moment, and her eyes clouded over. Her face went blank as she reluctantly let go of Rex's arm, but she sent a flirtatious smile at Rex anyway as she walked away. Rex shuddered.
"Thanks Commander," he said, turning to Ahsoka.
"No problem, Rexter!" she half yelled over the music. Ahsoka moved her cloak over something attached to her belt, and as Rex looked closer, realized she was hiding her lightsabers.
"You weren't supposed to bring those," Rex whispered to her.
"Well, you weren't supposed to bring your blasters," Ahsoka countered. Rex moved his coat over his twin pistols.
"Point taken."
Before he knew what was happening, Rex felt a hard fist fly into his stomach. He fell over onto the ground, coughing and trying to regain his balance. The same thing happened to Ahsoka, but a Trandoshan was keeping her from hitting the dirty floor. He took her lightsabers and put them on his belt. Ahsoka jabbed her elbow into the Trandoshan's stomach and pushed him away. Just as she was turning around, her assailant hit the back of her head with a blaster. She hit the ground hard and tried standing up again, but the Trandoshan kicked her hard in the stomach.
Rex tried standing up again, but was knocked back to the ground by someone's foot. "You Jedi like to think nobody notices you," The first Trandoshan hissed.
"You two will make a fine price as slaves." The second one said. The first Trandoshan was trying to choke Ahsoka until she fell unconscious, and the second had a firm foot on Rex's back. By now a crowd had cleared a circle around the group, but not one tried to stop them. Rex wrestled his way from under the Trandoshan's foot and quickly stood up. People around them started going crazy, pushing and shoving to either get out the door or get closer to the fight. The Trandoshan punched Ahsoka in the stomach, and she couldn't double over because of the firm grip on her neck.
Some people started shouting things like, "Fight!" and, "My money's on the lizards!" Some even yelled "Save yer girlfriend!" Ahsoka's eyelids were half closed, and by now she was too weak to fight back. Rex growled and swung his left fist at the second Trandoshan, hitting his jaw. He heard a crack, and he wasn't sure if it was his fingers or the Trandoshan's jaw. The Trandoshan hissed and kicked Rex, barely missing his head. Rex slammed his body into the Trandoshan's abdomen and knocked him into the floor. He punched him in the nose and the side of his head. The Trandoshan hissed again flipped Rex over, sucker punching his head. The first Trandoshan pulled him off of Rex. "I think that'll be enough, Ream," he said. "He'll go easily now."
The second Trandoshan kicked Rex and stood up, pulling Rex with him. Rex coughed up some blood and doubled over. The crowd was still standing in the same ring from the beginning of the fight.
Nobody moved.
"I'll be taking these," he said, pulling Rex's DC-17 from his belt.
"All right people, listen up!" Ream yelled. "You didn't see anything here, aight? You're just gonna walk out real slow and quiet like—"
The crowd gave the opposite reaction; a few people started screaming and rushing past others to get to the door. Ream pointed his blaster toward the ceiling and fired three shots. Everybody froze, not even daring to move. "That's better," he said.
"Let them go," a deep voice demanded.
Ream looked towards the general direction of the man's voice. The crowd parted to reveal Anakin Skywalker, a deep scowl on his face. Anakin stepped closer, Ream smiled.
"Hey Saran, look at this!" he called over to his comrade. Saran looked up, his fist was still around Ahsoka's throat, but it wasn't as tight.
"What?" he answered.
"Look what we got here! This guy thinks he can take us both on at once! Ha!" Ream laughed, but there was a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. Saran just rolled his eyes and turned towards Anakin.
"What makes you think you can beat us?" He said in his slithery voice. Anakin narrowed his eyes at the pair of Trandoshans. They looked like they were just teenagers, and Ream was shaking slightly. Anakin rushed at Ream, who was the smaller of the two, and tackled him to the ground. Ream growled and kicked Anakin off of him. He tried head-butting Anakin, but he easily moved out of the way.
"Ok, that's enough!" Saran threw Ahsoka to the ground and stepped on her back. "One more move and the girl gets it!" Saran pointed the blaster at the back of Ahsoka's head. "Here," he said, passing the second blaster to Ream. Ream pointed it at Rex's back. "Now," Saran continued, "you're gonna walk out of here real slow, and we're gonna leave. If any one of you calls the cops on us," he warned, "I swear I will hunt you down and kill you myself!"
Ream pointed his blaster at Rex's head. "Try and attack us," he said, "and I'll shoot the man. Saran'll shoot the girl," he said, looking at Anakin. Anakin stared Saran in the eyes, and he knew they were dead serious. Anakin had a sudden feeling of fear inside of him. There's no way I can let that happen! Anakin thought. The images of what happened on Mortis flashed through his mind at lightning speed.
Ahsoka getting attacked by Son, Ahsoka getting possessed by the dark side…
Ahsoka dying…
For a few seconds, everything was quiet, tense. A woman screamed in the background and people started panicking. Everyone was running toward the front and back doors, and the seven-hundred people in the room were pushing and shoving to get out of the way.
"Someone, call the police!" a man shouted.
Everything started moving in slow motion. Ream was the first to put his finger on the trigger. Just as he pulled, Anakin used the Force to point his gun in the other direction. The laser shot the bar, barely missing a patron's head.
Saran pointed his gun at the back of Ahsoka's head just as she managed to wriggle free from his grasp. Anakin used the Force to push his gun in another direction, but he was a second too late.
Two lasers hit Ahsoka, one shot in her shoulder, one in her back.
Anakin Force-pushed Saran back, knocking him into people who were still fleeing the bar.
Meanwhile, Rex was engaged in a fight with Ream. Ream kicked Rex, but he ducked before his head got hit. Rex punched Ream in the stomach, and then kneed his face. Ream hissed and stumbled back. Without warning, he upper-cutted Rex, and slammed his head on the floor. Stars swam in Rex's eyes, and he almost passed out. Ream was pushed off of Rex. When he rolled over, he was kicked in the chest. Rex couldn't breathe, and he knew a few ribs were broken, or at least cracked. Anakin pushed Ream to the ground, and with one punch, knocked Ream unconscious. Rex was on all fours, coughing up blood and trying to breathe.
He looked up to where Ahsoka was trying to stand. "Ma-Master," was all she could manage before she fainted.
"Ahsoka!" Rex and Anakin yelled. Anakin caught Ahsoka before she could hit the ground.
"Ahsoka! Ahsoka!" Anakin shook Ahsoka's shoulders. His breathing quickened and he feared the worst until Rex pointed out that she was still breathing.
"She's not dead, sir," Rex stated. Anakin sighed in relief.
"Rex, call a transport here to the Radiant. We're taking Ahsoka back to the ship."
Anakin stood in the south hangar on board the Republic star destroyer Radiant, watching ships enter and exit the hangar. Rex came up next to him and stood at attention.
"How's Ahsoka?" Anakin asked. The worry in his voice was evident.
"She's just left the infirmary, sir. She should be here soon." I'm fine too, Rex added in his head. Anakin looked at Rex, as if he had just heard what Rex thought. Kriffing Jedi senses! He thought in despair.
"So, how did the recon mission go?" Anakin asked instead.
"It went well, sir. The Separatist spy was apprehended within the first two days of our stake out." Rex stood at attention.
"Two days?" Anakin asked, unbelieving. "Rex, this mission should have taken a few weeks, at the least. You're telling me that the day after you touch down on a planet, you find one of the Republic's most wanted criminals and you stay at the planet for the next couple of weeks just for the fun of it?"
Rex stayed silent because that was exactly what had happened, although it was Ahsoka's idea that they stay and learn the local culture.
Just when Anakin was about to say something, Obi-wan came up to him and Rex. The Jedi Master greeted them and turned to Anakin.
"Well, hello Anakin. There is something I've been meaning to tell you." Anakin looked at Obi-wan.
"Oh really?" he said, not believing it was anything important.
"There is one woman I think you remember from a battle on Verocia," Obi-wan stated, resting a hand on his chin.
Anakin expression turned dark. "There was only one battle on Verocia; one that I choose not to remember."
"Oh, yes. Well, we have our next mission on the planet of Verocia," Obi-wan said.
"That's not possible," Anakin said, alarmed.
"Unfortunately, it is true. They've been experiencing some...problems...since we were last there. Now,there was one Jedi whose home planet was Verocia; I just can't remember her name," Obi-wan confirmed.
"If you're talking about the days of the Lizard War, then there was one woman whom I choose not to remember," Anakin replied curtly.
"The Lizard War?" Ahsoka asked, walking up to the group in the hangar bay. "What's that?"
Nobody answered her question. An uneasy silence came over them, and Ahsoka felt a little guilty for asking.
"It's nothing, Snips..." Anakin answered.
"Well, whatever her name was, she's here, and I expect you to be courteous this time, Anakin," Obi-wan said, changing the subject.
"Oh, do you mean General Jorani? If you do, then she's actually coming from a meeting with the council on the bridge," Ahsoka stated.
Anakin stiffened and turned toward Ahsoka. "Wait," he said, "she's on this ship, right now?"
"Uh…yeah. She docked while we were on the planet below, in the bar," Ahsoka said uncertainly. "Master, what's wrong?" she asked him.
Anakin ignored Ahsoka and spun on Obi-wan."You let her on the ship? There is absolutely no way we will be able to complete this mission if she's here! I swear-" Anakin didn't notice that Rex was pointing behind him the entire time until it was too late.
"Well, Ani it's nice to see you too," A cold voice said behind him. Anakin turned slowly and winced…
I hope this was at least a little better than the first time I posted this. About You Can't Protect Her From Everything: update may be stalled for a little bit longer because of my mad rush to end another one of my fan fictions (and because I've become addicted to dA) and also because it doesn't really feel right now that Ahsoka is no longer Anakin's Padawan. But I'll get over it relatively soon.
~AAx