Chapter 36 – Another day on Coruscant

I'm back with two updates. These took a little while to write. And, I have to be honest, the new Iceborne DLC for Monster Hunter World has taken up a lot of my time recently. Great game.

Barriss and her Padawan are out for a day of relaxation on Coruscant. Will such a thing last on one of the busiest planets of the Galaxy?

Hope you enjoy.

;-

Barriss Offee smiled as she and her Padawan finished up their lunch. Scout and her had gone out over Coruscant for the day as a change of routine. It was a day of relaxation, a bit of a reward for all of Scout's hard work and progression in her skills.

Scout happily finished the last bite of her lunch. The Mirialan style restaurant her Master had brought her too was really good. She never really had Mirialan food before, but it was something she'd like to repeat.

This had been a great day so far. Earlier in the morning they had gone to one of the parks in Coruscant. Barriss had decided that they would do a meditation exercise there instead of in the Temple. She had explained that she and her former Master Luminara Unduli had also done this before.

The Salutation to the Force was one of the oldest meditative exercises that the Order practiced. It was a series of physical exercises combining stretches and squats. The purpose of the exercise was to help the Jedi to reach a stronger connection with the Force.

Scout had done this a few times before herself, but never in such a way before. One on one with her own Master, both of them going through the same motions. She had also never done it outside the Temple before. It was a different experience to do it here in the park with Coruscant waking up all around them. Well, at least the people who worked during the day. Coruscant was never fully asleep.

When they had finished the exercise, they had simply sat in the park for a little while, just enjoying the peace and the morning sun. After that, they had gone for a stroll through the area. Her Master taking the time to point out some places that she had been with her former Master. Scout had been rather surprised. There were quite a few nice places on Coruscant if you knew where to look.

After a few hours of walking they had gone for lunch in a Mirialan style restaurant that Barriss had been multiple times with Luminara Unduli. It had been a very nice experience and the food had been better than Scout had expected. Well, she had to be honest, compared to the food at the Temple, just about anything was much better.

With their meal finished, Barriss took care of the bill and they went on their way again. According to her Master, there was a large open-air market in a nearby area with lots of activities. They both agreed that it could be nice to check it out and see what there was.

;-

As they were walking, Scout suddenly froze. Shock and horror radiated from her. Barriss quickly turned to face her Padawan. "Scout, what happened?" she asked. She knew of her foresight ability, it had earned her that nickname after all, and she would be foolish to ignore it.

"M-master! The Separatists! They're attacking Coruscant!" Scout replied hastily, eyes darting from her to the sky and scanning around wildly.

Barriss' eyes widened in shock. She had been having a strange feeling lately, but it was because of an incoming attack? On Coruscant?! She was about to activate her comlink, but then Scout pointed at the sky. They both stared in horror as a missile slammed into a building, creating a large explosion.

People began screaming around them as Separatist Vulture droids and droid transports appeared in the sky. Beyond them, flashes could be seen in space where the Separatist fleet engaged the Coruscant defense force. This was a full scale invasion.

Barriss cleared her mind from the shock to focus on what was important now. Those droid transports were spreading out quickly and soon they would be pouring out droids all over the planet. She looked around at them at all of the people still staring at the skies in horror. "Coruscant is under attack! All of you, get to the bunkers and stay there!" she called out loudly enough for many to hear. Scout repeated her words and gestured animatedly in the direction of the closest shelter. Thankfully many of the people heard them and began running away.

A short moment after that the alarms of Coruscant started to blare. Barriss wondered briefly why they weren't already going before the attack started. Wasn't that the whole point of the system? Thinking about that gave her a nasty feeling, but that wasn't as important now. Her datapad blared with an incoming emergency message, so she quickly checked it.

Scout was still looking around the sky. Yes, she had fought against the droids before, but this was the first time that she had ever seen such a massive force. Vulture droids were swarming around, guiding droid transports to many different locations. With the defense forces of Coruscant now beginning to respond, the incoming ships were met with fire from the defense installations. At the same time, Republic fighters emerged from their hangers and engaged the enemy ships. What had been a peaceful day minutes ago had now descended into absolute chaos.

She turned back to Barriss. "Master, what do we do?" she asked. She herself had no idea what they were supposed to be in this situation.

Barriss put her datapad away again and turned to Scout. "The Council just sent out emergency orders. For now, our top priority is to protect the civilians, so that comes down to taking out as many droids as we can," she quickly explained. She watched the sky for a moment. "Looks like there's a transport planning to land close by, we'll go after that one first. Hopefully the clones are mobilizing as well and they'll be there to provide support. You have experience with fighting the droids, right Scout?"

Scout nodded. "Yes, I had to deal with plenty of them before. I know how to fight them," she replied.

Barriss nodded as well. "Good, stick close to me. We'll watch each other's backs. I doubt that the regular and super battle droids will give us much problems, but keep an eye of their numbers so that we don't get overwhelmed. If you spot destroyers, commandos or magna guards, alert me right away. I doubt the Separatists will send such units to unimportant targets, so if we do spot them we'll need to relay it to the Council and Republic command."

"Understood Master! Let's go, that transport is beginning to land," she said as she pointed at the incoming transport. Barriss nodded in agreement and the two quickly set off in the direction of the transport.

;-

With the Force to enhance their speed, it only took the duo a few minutes before they reached the open square where the droid transport was about to land and deploy its troops. Barriss quickly took note of the situation.

Scout had easily kept up with her, to her amusement and slight pride. The younger girl didn't seem winded by the run, which was good. This was obviously going to be a long and exhausting day. She hoped it would only be one day. Bad memories of long sieges echoed through her mind with that thought. Some battles had lasted for days, even weeks. Often spent in terrible conditions, just waiting anxiously for the battle to continue again. It was horror she hoped she'd never have to experience again.

She made a mental note to keep an eye on her Padawan, just to be safe.

The area was thankfully almost fully clear of civilians. There were a still people still around, hiding behind cover, shaking with fear. She hoped that they would take the chance to escape to safety once she and Scout engaged the droids.

"Master, they're deploying!" Scout called out, lightsaber ready in her hand.

Barriss looked over at the transport. Scout was right. It had landed and the clamps of its ramp were releasing. Barriss took her own lightsabers into her hands as the ramp started lowering. "Stay focused Scout. Trust in the Force and It will protect you. And so will I," she told her Padawan. The ramp of the transport lowered fast and slammed into the ground. Almost instantly, the droids began marching out of it.

The large plaza was nearly empty, no people were in immediate sight of the droids. The duo of Master and Padawan took advantage of this and hid behind one of the large commercial holo screens. These screens would normally be broadcasting commercial after commercial after commercial, but now they only showed the emergency broadcast that was echoing over the city, urging people to find shelter immediately.

With no targets in sight, the droids began to march, spreading out over the area to look for targets meeting their mission perimeters. Barriss and Scout waited for them to spread out a bit more. If they moved in now, they would face a wall of droids. If they waited a bit, the droids would be all around them. While it did mean that they would be surrounded, the droids would also have to worry about friendly fire. Besides that, the two Jedi could reflect their bolts more easily around them.

A portion of the droid group made their way in their direction. Barriss signaled Scout to be ready through their bond. She moved into a combat stance, ready to jump out towards the droids and felt Scout do the same. She waited until the droids were just a bit closer. Once they were in reach, she signaled Scout again.

The two Jedi burst out of hiding, three blue lightsabers igniting with the all too familiar snap-hiss sound. The squad of droids that was closest to them had no time to react before they were cut to pieces. A different group began firing at them a short moment later. The duo stood side by side and reflected their bolts away and back at the group or the other many droids in the area. Barriss spared a brief moment of thought that she was glad that Scout was so eager to practice her newfound Force abilities and Form III. It certainly helped now.

They moved in sync towards some of the decorative construction of this plaza. It gave them a moment of cover that they used to rush towards a different group of droids. This group was stunned to suddenly see the Jedi coming straight at them from a different direction and were quickly taken down. Two groups down, still plenty to go.

Thankfully for them it seemed like some of the people living in this area weren't just going to let the droids waltz in and destroy everything. A number of people had gotten blasters and were firing into the droids at their flank while they were focusing on the two Jedi.

Between Barriss and Scout, the people defending their homes and a squadron of clones that came to assist, the force from the transport was quickly dispatched and a moment of relative quiet returned to the plaza.

The clone squadron was sweeping the droids to check for possible active ones still remaining. Their captain meanwhile made his way towards Barriss and Scout. "General Offee, I'm captain Smoker. My men and I are at your disposal in this, if I may speak freely, severely messed up situation," he introduced.

"It's good to meet you, captain Smoker," Barriss replied. "Your assistance is very welcome indeed. We've received emergency orders to deal with the droids wherever we can. We have to protect the civilians as much as possible. I fear that many were nowhere near the bunkers when this invasion began."

Captain Smoker nodded. "Understood General, we'll follow your lead," he answered. He turned briefly to his troops and Barriss knew he was sharing their new orders with them. He then turned back to Barriss.

"Captain, this is my Padawan Tallisibeth, but I'm sure she won't mind you calling her Scout," she said, taking a brief glance at her Padawan. Scout nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure if she's been fully registered with the GAR yet, but she'll act as Commander for now." She could feel a bit of anxiety from Scout at this, but her Padawan pushed it away and focused. Barriss felt her determination clearly.

Captain Smoker nodded again. "Yes General. We'll follow you and the Commander," he replied. He focused on his men. "Form up everyone! Tracker! Did you get a lead on the transport deployment?"

The squad quickly formed up and one soldier, the one named Tracker, stepped forward. His kit was slightly different and the scanning and tracking equipment was clearly visible. "Yes sir, I got a lead on two transports. It looks like they'll be setting down about two klicks east from our current location." With those words, the troopers looked at Barriss, ready for orders.

"Thank you Tracker," Barriss replied. "Then we have our next target. We'll head there right away and intercept the droids before they can leave their landing zone. Our goal for now will be to take out as many of them as possible. Make sure to watch each other's backs, we're no doubt going to be swarmed in droids."

The troopers sounded their agreement and the group departed to intercept the transports.

;-

Barriss slashed the blaster arm off a super battle droid and used the Force to blast the droid into a few regular battle droids that were marching up to her. She then rushed quickly ahead to intercept a droideka that was rushing up to the clones. She slashed it in two before it had a chance to deploy and activate its shields.

So far, with her Padawan and the squadron of clones, they had taken down seventeen droid transports. It almost felt like they hadn't done anything at all. The skies were still full of transports and vultures flying everywhere.

Right now they were still dealing with the remaining droids of three transports that had landed in their current location. Most of the force had been destroyed, but a group had managed to barricade themselves in a building and were unleashing bolts on a pinned down group of clones.

Two of the clones were in direct danger of getting shot down. Scout was already with them, covering them with her lightsaber as she directed them to rush behind the cover with the other troops. The clones moved and she followed with them, keeping her lightsaber constantly moving in the Form III sequences that they had been practicing. She was handling it well, but in that moment the droids decided to focus all of their fire on the Jedi that was in the open. More blaster bolts converged on her than she could handle and she took a nasty hit in the stomach.

Worry flared through Barriss as she watched her Padawan go down. The two clones that she had been covering were thankfully quick to pull her behind the cover as well, so she was safe for the moment.

"Captain Smoker!" Barriss called out to the leader of the squadron, "get me some droids poppers. We need to get rid of those droids!"

"Yes General," Smoker replied quickly. He gestured at two of his men and quickly relayed orders through their internal helmet coms. The two men moved towards her with a container of droid poppers. She nodded a quick thanks and took them.

She moved a bit to the side, ensuring that she was out of the direct line of fire and asked the nearby clones to cover her. After their acknowledgements, she deactivated her lightsabers and focused on the Force. She took hold of the droid poppers and then used the Force to launch them into the windows of the building. Two seconds later blue electrical sparks could be seen and the blasterfire subsided.

"Captain, get some troopers to secure the building, but remain wary of any remaining droids," she ordered. He got a group on it right away. Barriss looked around the area and reached around with the Force. Once she was certain that, for now at least, the immediate danger was over, she made her way to Scout. For a moment she decided to ignore the transports still flying through the sky. She did inform Tracker to keep monitoring them and incoming communications.

She kneeled down next to Scout who was lying on the floor with two clones looking her over. "Scout, how are you feeling?" she asked as she began to check her wounds.

"Master," Scout replied with a slightly pained grunt. "Well, I've been better. It hurts, but at least the troops are safe."

"You did great, Scout. Don't worry," she said. "Let me take a look at it."

The wound wasn't serious, thankfully, but it would be very difficult for Scout to continue fighting like this. In any case, Barriss wasn't going to let her. Ahsoka had ignored some wounds in the past and continued fighting, which caused her wounds to become worse to the fact that she had to undergo heavier treatment and occasionally an extended dip in a bacta tank. A foolish habit that she seemingly picked up from her former Master and Grandmaster. Both Kenobi and Skywalker seemed to share an aversion to medical treatments and tried to pull every trick they could to avoid being treated in a medical bay. She, being a healer, would not allow her Padawan to make similar rash decisions.

After treating the wound as best as she could out here, she took a moment as well to briefly contact the Temple to find out the situation there. The droids hadn't breached the Temple, she expected as much, but there were quite a lot of wounded. A lot of injured people and troops from the surrounding area were also brought to the Temple for safety.

She made a quick decision to return to the Temple with Scout. Her Padawan needed medical attention and, if she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep on fighting like this. Seeing as there was a request for all available healers to return to the Temple and help there, she would get her Padawan sorted out quickly and help the other healers where she was able. Movement drew her attention and she looked at the captain of the trooper squad that had been fighting with them.

"General Offee, we're being called in to join the defense force on a different location. What are your plans? Especially considering the Commander's injury," he inquired.

"I would appreciate it if you could drop us off at the Temple, captain," she replied. "My Padawan needs medical attention and there is a call out for all available healers to return to the Temple and assist with the wounded. I will join the other healers and help them treat the wounded that are being brought to the Temple."

The captain nodded. "Copy that sir, there's a transport underway already. We'll get them to drop you off at the Temple. I know the lives of our brothers are in good hands with you."

"Thank you captain," Barriss replied. He gave a quick salute and turned his attention back to his squad to get them ready for the transport. Barriss moved back to Scout. "Alright Padawan, we're heading back to the Temple."

"But Master, what about the droids?" Scout asked in return. "They're still so many of them! We…"

Barriss gestured for her to stop. "Scout, you're hurt. You can't keep fighting like this. If you do, you'll only make it worse. Anakin and Ahsoka made that mistake several times, but I won't let you do that. I'm taking you to the Halls of Healing and after that I'll join the Temple healers to treat the other wounded. I also can't keep up this fighting for too much longer, so I'll be of more use there than out here."

Scout wanted to argue, but as usual, her Master had some very good points. Besides, the wound did hurt a lot. She could probably ignore it and suppress the physical pain with the Force for a while, but decided to accept her Master's advice. She nodded with some slight reluctance. "Alright, we'll head back to the Temple," she agreed, slightly frustrated that she wouldn't be able to do more to help.

Barriss nodded and went to double check the bandage while they waited for the transport.

;-

Back at the Temple

Barriss felt like she walked into a den of chaos. The normally quiet and regulated Halls of Healing were now swarming with people. She doubted that it had been this busy since the start of the Clone Wars and the first battle of Geonosis. It might be even busier now.

At least Scout was doing well. A temple worker had been waiting for her with a full medical kit. She had been able to treat Scout's wound more properly. Seeing as she wasn't in need of further treatment, only rest, Barriss had quickly taken Scout back to their quarters. The temple worker had told her that the Halls were too full and the available beds were being reserved for emergency patients. She thought that he had been exaggerating, but he was actually more than correct.

She spotted Vokara Che walking up to her. "Barriss, good to see you. We are in dire need of more healers. Are you well? Can you assist us?" she asked, quickly looking her over to assess her condition.

"Master Che," Barriss replied with a quick bow. "I'm fine. My Padawan did get hurt, but the wound is thankfully not too serious and she's resting in our quarters now. I'm a little tired from the fighting, but I can still help out here. Where do you need me?"

Vokara thought it over for a moment. "I'd like for you to help us out in the southern section of the Temple hangars. We've set up an emergency triage section for the incoming wounded civilians. We have things covered here for now, but they can use some additional help there," she informed her.

Barriss nodded. "Very well. I'll make my way over there right now," she replied. "Is there anything else they might need?"

Vokara nodded. "Yes, we have a crate of supplies that they just asked for. Can you take it along with you? she asked while pointing at a nearby hovercrate.

"Of course, no problem. I'll take it with me and head over there right now," Barriss replied. She gave a quick bow to Master Che and then made her way towards the crate. She activated its repulsors and took it with her towards the elevator.

About ten minutes later she was at her own little station in the emergency triage. There were a lot of wounded people here that needed all sorts of treatment. Many more were still being brought in and their number would only continue to increase as this battle raged on. Barriss took a deep breath and steeled herself for the work ahead of her.

;-

She had been working through patients for about an hour when she noticed something odd. It was quiet outside the Temple. The sounds of war had suddenly gone silent. It unnerved her greatly. This full scale invasion wouldn't have just ended like that. There was a terrifying sensation creeping through the Force. Something had happened and it wasn't good.

She finished up with the young girl she was treating. While escaping with her family, a nearby explosion caused a large load of glass in the buildings around them to shatter into pieces and shower all of them. The poor girl had gotten a few nasty shards in her back and left arm. Removing them had been easy enough. One of her fellow Jedi, who wasn't a Healer, had been there telling an animated story to keep all of the younger children distracted from their pain and the working Healers. It worked out well, he was a great storyteller.

She had gotten all of the shards out of the girl, then applied a few bacta patches over them. Once she was done, she checked the patches again to make sure they hadn't bled through. Satisfied, she stepped in front of the girl to get the attention of her and her mother. "There we go, I'm all done," she told them with a little smile. "Just make sure to keep those on for two days. Then you can take them off and check the wounds. If they're not fully healed yet, you can put another bacta patch on it."

The mother sighed in relief. "That's great news, thank you Master Jedi," she replied. She looked at her daughter. "What do we say to the nice lady?"

"Thank you!" Her daughter said with a happy smile. Then she turned her attention back to the story her fellow Jedi was telling. Barriss shared a quick laugh with the mother before she and her daughter moved on, her daughter eagerly sitting down with the other kids listening to the story.

Barriss took a moment to collect her thoughts and try to figure out what she was sensing. While she did so, she noticed Master Vokara Che walking up to her. "Hello again Master Che, how is everything going in the Halls?" she asked.

Vokara gave a brief sigh. "It's a little bit more orderly now, but we're still swarmed," she replied. "How are things here?"

"More or less the same. People keep coming in, but I'm worried about something else right now," she said. "It's gone far too quiet outside suddenly. It's unnerving me greatly."

Vokara was about to reply when Kit Fisto walked up to them. "Master Che, we have received some disturbing news," he informed them.

"What happened Master Fisto?" she asked him. She didn't like what she felt from him through the Force.

He gestured for them to follow him and they stepped away from the crowd for a bit. "Somehow, the Separatists have managed to capture Chancellor Palpatine," he told them.

"They've done what?!" Vokara asked in shock.

Barriss too was in shock. "How did they manage to do that? His bunker is supposed to be one of the safest places on Coruscant." She had no idea what to make of this.

Kit Fisto nodded slowly. "In all honesty, I suspect foul play," he admitted. "This invasion has felt wrong from the start. But let's keep that between us. Vokara, I fear that we may get even more patients into the Halls of Healing soon. Please be prepared for whatever might happen."

"I'll let everyone know," Vokara replied with a sigh. "As if we're not swarmed enough already." She shook her head. "What are we going to do with the Chancellor?"

"We've send out an emergency broadcast calling for any and all possible reinforcements. We've had brief contact with Skywalker and Kenobi. They are on their way back to Coruscant with all haste. Their fleets might help us break this invasion and rescue the Chancellor. Hopefully they get here in time," Kit informed them.

"Then all we can do is hope," Vokara said softly. "I'll try to keep a team of Healers on standby, should they be needed elsewhere."

"Thank you Vokara. May be Force be with us all," Kit Fisto replied before he gave them a quick nod and continued on his way.

Barriss watched the Nautolan Master leave and an uneasy feeling settled in her gut. His comment about foul play made her think back to her own confusion about the alarm systems only activating after the battle had started. Coruscant being attacked like this and the Chancellor getting kidnapped? It felt wrong.

She shook it off for now and turned her attention back to Vokara Che. "I'll get back to treating the wounded people here Master. We still have plenty of them coming in. And if the attacks have temporarily stopped for now, we might see more people running to the Temple soon."

Vokara nodded. "I suspect that you're right, Barriss," she replied with a sad smile. "Please pass on a message to the other Healers here. Have them manage their supplies. If they need more, inform the Halls immediately and we'll get someone down with more supplies. I'll also see about getting several other Jedi here to help you all manage the incoming people."

"I will do so, Master," Barriss said as she nodded. She shared a quick bow with Vokara. Then the Twi'lek Healer began to make her way back to the Halls of Healing. Barriss in turn walked back to the triage center. She feared that this day would still be a lot longer.

;-

That's the end of this chapter.

What was supposed to be a relaxing day turned into a living nightmare as the Separatists invaded Coruscant. With that, we are now in Revenge of the Sith territory. With Barriss redeemed to the Light, will she be able to make a difference in all that's coming the Order's way?

Next update for these stories will be a dual update as well. With Ahsoka and Barriss both on the same planet, they are bound to run into each other.

I'll also see about updating my Gift of Light story. I have more events planned for it, but I'm not sure if I want to add in a few things before that. It'll be a bit of a time skip and I might want to do some more with Barriss first. I'll have to think about that storyline a bit more.

Until next time.