Forever In My Heart
By RocketFAN
Chapter 2: The Day After Last Night
Ahsoka woke early the next day to find herself alone in her bed. Did the events of last night really take place? Or had it just been some beautiful dream?
She showered and dressed before heading to the dining hall to get some breakfast before she and her Master left for a mission to rescue several Clone Troopers who had been stranded aboard a disabled ship that was aimlessly adrift in space. When she sat down to eat, she suddenly felt a presence behind her.
"Pax!" She was slightly startled when he snuck up behind her and covered her eyes.
"Aw, how'd you know?" He asked as he sat down next to her.
"Lucky guess," Ahsoka replied casually while taking a bite of a fluffy roll.
"I had fun last night," he whispered in her ear, even though there was no one within earshot of them.
"So that wasn't a dream?" Ahsoka said with a small smile.
"I sure hope not," Pax laughed as he stole a small pastry of her plate and popped the whole thing in his mouth.
"Hey! I was thinking about eating that," Ahsoka said playfully as Pax struggled to swallow the incredibly sticky pastry.
"Ugh! It's too sticky!" Pax coughed as he continued to try to swallow it.
"Ha! Serves you right!" Ahsoka laughed evilly as she wacked him on the back and headed to the landing platform to meet her Master.
"Ahsoka!" Anakin called his Padawan over to the larger model Jedi cruiser he was standing by, along with Master Obi-Wan, Master Windu, and Master Yoda.
"Hello, Masters," Ahsoka said as she bowed respectively to them.
"Hello, young one," Obi-Wan said with a warm smile. Master Obi-Wan was the only person who could get away with referring to Ahsoka as "Young One". Since becoming Anakin's Padawan, she had been referred to as "youngling" far more times than she appreciated.
"Well, Snips, let get going," Anakin said as he eagerly climbed into the pilots seat of the cruiser.
"Yes, Master," Ahsoka replied softly as she hopped in the back cabin next to Anakin's favorite Navigation Droid, R2-D2, who chirped happily as Ahsoka strapped herself in to the seat across from him. The cargo cabin had been modified with medical equipment and supplies in preparation to house the potentially injured Clone Troopers.
"You've been awfully quiet, Snips," Anakin said after nearly an hour of silence from the back of the cruiser, aside from R2's occasional beeps and twitters.
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Ahsoka said suddenly as she felt her Master's eyes on her.
"What's going on?" Anakin asked her with a raised eyebrow. In all the years he had known Ahsoka, she had never been the silent type.
"I'm alright… just tired I guess," Anakin was not fooled one bit by his Padawan's half-assed answer. He could definitely tell that she was pre-occupied with something. Exactly what that "something" was, however, eluded him at the moment. Nevertheless, curious as he was, he knew that the mission and the lives of the Clone Troopers aboard the aloof transport were far more important at the moment.
"Okay, Snips, we need to focus on the mission right now," Anakin urged her to keep her mind on the mission. With the lives of 15 Clone Troopers in jeopardy, there was no room for distractions.
"I'm picking up a vessel, Master. There are 15 life forms aboard," Ahsoka said when they reached the desolate area of the outer rim territory where the ship was last detected.
"That must be our boys," Anakin said as he flipped on the transmitter and began to further scan the area.
"Is there anyone there? This is General Anakin Skywalker," Anakin said into the Comm., praying for any response from the vessel.
"General?! Is that really you?! Thank the Force!" A Clone Trooper's desperately grateful voice rang from the other end.
"Are there any casualties?" Anakin asked grimly.
"I'm afraid so, General Skywalker. It's only me and four others who survived," the Clone said dejectedly.
"Are the survivors in need of any immediate, medical attention?" Anakin asked the anonymous Clone.
"I think we're all right for now, General," the Clone replied.
"Okay, stand by, we'll take you in," Anakin instructed as he prepared the tractor beam on his ship to pull the disabled Clone Cruiser in.
One by one, Anakin and Ahsoka's ship reeled in the five alive, yet injured and exhausted Clone Troopers: Gunner, Niner, Rugby, Axle, and the Commander, Rider. Ahsoka carefully tended to Gunner, who was the most significantly injured of the five, with a four-inch gash on his forehead and a third-degree burn on his arm.
"All right, let's get out of here," Anakin said as Ahsoka finished stabilizing the Clones.
"What about the other, Master? Are we just going to leave them behind?" Ahsoka asked Anakin from the passenger seat as the disabled and lifeless Clone Cruiser became smaller and smaller as they sped away.
"They're dead, Ahsoka… there is nothing we can do for them," Anakin replied humbly as he shifted the ship into hyper-drive and set course for Coruscant so the Clones could get the medical attention they needed.
During the long journey back to Coruscant, Ahsoka decided she would rather sit in the cargo cabin with the Clones than up front with Anakin. For some reason, his lack of compassion for the fallen Clone Troopers had upset her more than something like that normally would have. She knew her Master was kind and compassionate as they come, but he just seemed colder than usual today.
"Are you sure you're all right?" Ahsoka asked Gunner as he laid on the medical cot the ship had been retrofitted with for the mission.
"Yeah… I'm pretty lucky, I suppose," Gunner replied with a deep sigh.
"Yeah… lucky," Ahsoka said softly.
Anakin sat in the pilot's seat of the Cruiser as he effortlessly drove the ship back home to Coruscant. He was slightly distraught over the way Ahsoka had been acting all day. He could not wait to get back to the Jedi Temple so he and her could talk. Something was bothering her and he was determined to find out what it was.
A/N: Ugh! Sorry this chapter was soooo boring! I promise it will get better.