19 BBY
Cargo ship TB-73, Ord Cestus system
"This is Barriss Offee, can anyone hear me?" Static was the only reply from the comm unit. Barriss could see the medical station rapidly growing larger through the frost-covered viewport. It was so cold she could barely operate the controls, her skin sticking slightly to the frozen metal. "I'm shutting down the engines, I'll try to reroute the-" Barriss sensed danger and dove out of the pilot chair as a searing green light arced through the space her head had been, slicing through the control panel instead.
As alarms began blaring in the bridge, Barriss spun around and ignited her lightsaber just in time to block her assailant's next attack. Ahsoka Tano stood before her, blank eyed and covered in frost, a savage scowl on her face. The accusation in her eyes somehow chilled Barriss even more. Ahsoka swung the lightsaber lazily, and Barriss easily parried her possessed friend's attacks. The creature controlling her had none of the young Jedi's skill, wielding the lightsaber like a cleaver. After a few more easy parries, Barriss kicked the hilt out of Ahsoka's hand. With an unnatural shriek, Ahsoka lurched forward and grabbed Barriss by the throat. The grip was like durasteel; her vision blurred as she gasped for breath. Panicking, Barriss stabbed her blade through her friend's abdomen, the bright blue beam protruding from Ahsoka's back.
The anger on Ahsoka's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a look of intense pain and betrayal, a look Barriss had seen on her face in another time and place. There was no parasite inside her, Barriss was horrified to realize. It was all a horrific misunderstanding, a cruel joke of the Force. She fell back onto the deck, throwing her lightsaber away as if it had become red-hot. Ahsoka's wound began smoking as though she was burning apart from the inside. Her friend was dying, and it was all her fault.
"I'm so sorry Ahsoka, I had no choice!" Barriss pleaded. Somehow, with a blade of superheated plasma impaling her Ahsoka found the strength to say the words that had been burned into Barriss' mind long ago.
"Barriss? Is that true?"
Coruscant, GAR Base Aurek-000
Barriss awoke suddenly in a cold sweat, breathing rapidly. Not finding the strength to move, she lay for a few minutes staring at the ceiling of her cell. I'm sorry, Ahsoka. Eventually she forced herself to sit up and slide off the edge of the sleeping bench onto her feet. She walked over to one of the rooms few features, the water basin. Splashing water onto her face, she tried to push the accusatory image of Ahsoka out of her mind. She hadn't had a good night's sleep in the four months she had been imprisoned.
Every night someone who she had hurt visited her. Ahsoka appeared in her dreams the most, though this was the first time her mind had brought up the brain worm incident. Other times it was her friend Tutso Mara with his face half blown off, Jackar Bowmani exploding from the inside out, or Letta Turmond trying to pry off the invisible hands that had strangled her to death. Once she had seen Trap, the worm-infected clone she had killed in a panic so long ago. But Barriss knew that the nightmares would never trouble her again. The thought was oddly comforting.
As Barriss shut off the water and pushed the wet locks of hair out of her eyes, she wondered if this was how people usually felt on the day of their execution. She had thought there would be some amount of anxiety, but Barriss Offee felt strangely at peace in a way she hadn't since the war began. Had it really only been three years ago? It felt like an eternity of hellish battlefields across the galaxy. Geonosis, Felucia, Drongar, Umbara, thousands of lives being wasted. Barriss had tried so hard to save them. Most hadn't made it, but the worst were the ones she had healed only for them to be killed pointlessly days later.
It was more horrible than anything Barriss could have imagined, and after all of that death a few more sacrifices to end the madness had eventually seemed like nothing. Jackar, Tutso, Letta, and all the rest had died for a good cause. She desperately hoped they had. It wasn't enough, a gnawing fear whispered in her mind. You didn't do enough to stop it. Barriss pushed the thought out of her head. This was no time for doubt, not now. Doubt had taken her far enough.
The cell door slid open and the ray shield deactivated. It was time. She turned to see the helmeted figure of Commander Fox enter the cell followed by four shock troopers. She could feel his icy glare, even through it was hidden by his helmet.
"Prisoner Barriss Offee, the time has come for your execution by firing squad." The clone officer seethed with barely-contained loathing for Barriss, which she thought was ironic. Neither he nor the other clones could see she was trying to end the injustice being done to them. It would be amusing, if it weren't so sad. As Barriss put her hands forward to be handcuffed, another figure appeared in the doorway. Barriss' heart skipped a beat at the sight. It felt like years since they had last spoken. Her throat suddenly dry, she swallowed and failed to contain her surprise.
"I...never thought to see you again, Master."
Luminara Unduli's eyes narrowed as she regarded her former apprentice. Barriss became acutely aware of how disheveled her stay in prison had made her. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders, and instead of hiding it as she always had before she let it fall wildly around her face. A hood was not part of the standard orange Republic prison uniform. Luminara hadn't changed a single bit from the day she choose Barriss to be her apprentice, except for one detail. There was a second lightsaber hanging from her belt whose hilt Barriss instantly recognized. Her lightsaber, the one Anakin Skywalker had wielded against her.
"I'm here to make sure your sentence is carried out," Luminara said as she fell into step beside Barriss' escort. Her voice didn't betray an ounce of...well, anything. Luminara's emotions seemed fully repressed, as usual.
"Oh? Are you going to do it yourself? It would save the Republic a few blaster bolts." Barriss asked, trying to mask her uneasiness with sarcasm. For the first time in her life she felt free to speak her mind to Luminara. If only it hadn't taken such drastic measures to break that barrier of formality.
"No. Do not mock me, Barriss." Luminara looked away from her former apprentice.
Barriss pressed on. "Is that anger I hear in your voice, Master? That's not the Jedi way." She was finding the prospect of imminent death had a liberating effect.
"I did not come here to debate the Jedi Code with one who has forgotten it as completely as you have." Luminara said. Her voice had taken on a hardness that made Barriss wonder just how controlled her feelings really were.
"Forgotten it? You're the one who has forgotten it Luminara!" Barriss had never used her master's name before. "You and all the rest of the Jedi! There is no emotion, there is peace, you lecture me, but what kind of peace is this?! It's a lie Luminara! It's war! It's war, and it's wrong! All I want to do is open your eyes to that!" Please understand, you have to understand, Barriss thought frantically. If Luminara at least could see why she had done such terrible things, then the Jedi might not be lost yet.
Luminara listened to her tirade without reacting, but Barriss could feel the roil of emotions just beneath the surface. The overall feeling was...
Disappointment.
Finally, she spoke. "You have done horrible things Barriss. You've allowed the dark side to twist your desire for peace and turn you into a murderer. And you must be dealt with as one." They had reached the entrance to the execution chamber, a stark grey door in a stark grey hallway. Everything was a shade of grey in this place.
Barriss felt despair, not at her imminent death, but at her Master's harshness. "It didn't work," she said softly to herself, "you haven't learned anything from it, and so they all died for-"
Barriss' words were cut off by a the loud booming sound of a distant explosion. A moment later the hallway shook violently. Barriss struggled to keep her balance, a task made difficult by her stuncuffs.
"What was that?" Commander Fox asked. A second boom rocked the base.
"We're under attack!" Luminara realized, her eyes widening slightly. Fox's head tilted to one side, a sign Barriss recognized meant he was listening to someone on his helmet comm.
After a moment, he turned to Luminara. "General, the main Separatist fleet just dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of Coruscant's grav well. We need to get to the command center immediately!"
Barriss laughed bitterly, if she didn't laugh she knew she would cry. "It looks like Palpatine's war has finally come home. Go on and fight it for him Luminara. War is all you're good for anymore!" There would be so many senseless deaths soon. Boom!
Luminara didn't acknowledge her, but Barriss could see a hint of anguish in her Master's normally stoic expression. "Very well Commander Fox, the rest of you..." Luminara took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "...proceed with the execution." She turned to walk away. Barriss felt a pang of sorrow, aware this was the last time she would ever see Luminara. But it was too late for regret.
"May the Force be with you, Luminara Unduli."
As Luminara stopped and looked at the fallen Jedi, Barriss thought she looked like she wanted to say something more. But instead Luminara turned about and followed Fox away. Goodbye Master, she thought. I'm so sorry it had to end this way.
Boom boom!
The doors opened in front of Barriss, and the clones pushed her forward. Boom! Ahead of her at the end of a long walkway was a platform floating in one of the chasms the designer of this place liked so much. Standing at attention there were four helmeted clones carrying long rifles. My executioners, Barriss thought. Boom boom!
Time for the end.
Boom boom!
She wondered if the clones had drawn lots to see who got to shoot her.
Boom boom!
They must hate her terribly. They would never understand, it just wasn't in them.
Boom boom!
This walkway felt a few parsecs long.
Boom boom!
Were those distant explosions she was hearing, or her own heartbeats?
Boom boom!
Soon she would be one with the Force.
Boom boom!
Maybe there would be peace there.
Boom boom!
She wondered if Ahsoka forgave her, wherever she was.
Boom boom!
Had they been too embarrassed to let her back in the Order, or was she back in the fighting right now?
Boom boom!
Did Ahsoka hate her too? She had every right too.
Boom boom!
Maybe she at least had seen Barriss' message. That at least was a comforting thought.
Boom boom!
It would stop mattering to her soon.
Boom boom!
She was at the end of the line.
Boom boom!
Barriss took her final step.
The clone sergeant walked up to her. "Would the prisoner request to be blindfolded?" Barriss remained silent.
"I'll take that as a no." The clone walked away. Boom boom!
"Ready!"
I wish it didn't have to be this way, Barriss thought.
"Aim!"
There is no death… She closed her eyes.
"Fire!"
...there is the Force.
Four blaster shots rang out.
Boom boom boom boom!
Expanded it a bit from the original version. - Kablob