Chapter 10 - To the Rescue

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Star Wars or any of the characters in it, though we wish we did. xD

Author's Note: In which Ahsoka has yet another run-in with Obi-Wan and Anakin. :P

~ Amina Gila

"It's time somebody finally put an end to that monster," Anakin practically growls as the transmission of Grievous' capture of Koth finally flickers off. It would certainly be a good but rescuing Koth is higher on their list of importance. Obi-Wan knows the possibility of rescuing him and killing Grievous at once is not very high.

"On that, agreed we are," Yoda replies, "How to find him, the question remains."

"After engaging Grievous, we lost contact with Master Koth. He could be anywhere," Obi-Wan points out. It's likely he was moved in case the Jedi come looking for him. Grievous isn't stupid, even if he doesn't understand anything about lightsaber combat. He'd never stay in a place where the Jedi are bound to come momentarily. He knows what could happen if they were to find him.

Plo's commander steps into view, speaking quietly to him for several moments. "Commander Wolffe has found a message in the holo-transmission," announces the Jedi Master, turning back to the others. "Play back the message."

The message starts playing again. Obi-Wan isn't at all surprised when Anakin is the first to notice, stepping closer. "Look, hand signals." He's usually the first to notice such things.

Obi-Wan moves forwards, carefully studying the motions Koth is making on the flickering red hologram. "I admit my skills are rusty, but..." he trails off, attempting to interpret them, "Saleucami system, Section J19, zero-eight, zero-five, two-nine." It's been a long time since he had to use those, but it's a useful skill to know.

"Saleucami?" Anakin exclaims, "But intelligence reported Grievous has no ships near that sector."

"Yes, but so often inaccurate our intelligence is," murmurs Yoda.

"I shall go," Obi-Wan immediately offers. He's fought Grievous in the past, and he has experience in dealing with him. The best style to use against him is a defensive form, which the Jedi Master excels at, being the Master of Soresu. If they could take down the cyborg, it would be a great victory for the Republic. Maybe they have a better chance at it with three Jedi going.

"So will I," Anakin states with determination, moving to stand at his former master's side.

"And I," Gallia adds, stepping forwards.

**w**

Anakin's lightsaber slices through the door and he stalks inside with Gallia right behind him. Koth is suspended in the center of the room much farther back, a tactical droid waiting nearby. It's what he expected for someone Grievous was holding prisoner. Anakin's been captured himself by Separatists before, and he knows it's always a far from pleasant experience. It would be worse to be the prisoner of someone like Grievous, and he's very, very unappreciative of anyone else having to go through that.

"Hey, Skyguy. Long time, no see."

Or not. Anakin steps farther inside, raising his lightsaber defensively. For a moment, he was almost convinced it was his imagination, having thought about her so much recently. But sure enough, the still-very-short Togruta casually steps out from around the corner, clothed in the black cloak she was wearing when they first met. He can't resist brushing her presence, and instantly realizes Ahsoka is even more conflicted than the last time they'd met in the incident with Gunray. As time goes on, it seems she's starting to have more and more questions about the war.

"Glad you've been looking forwards to seeing me again, Snips," he shoots back.

All at once, assassin droids leap down from all around the room, brandishing long, knife-like weapons. Two others jump to the floor right next to Anakin and Gallia, blasters aimed. The two immediately move to stand back-to-back, holding their activated lightsabers in front of them.

"Well, at least they're not destroyer droids," Anakin remarks.

"That may be next, so don't get too comfortable," Ahsoka snips, crossing her arms to watch.

"The General's description of your tactics has been 100% accurate today. Very impressive, even by my standards," announces the tactical droid who's positioned in front of Koth. It promptly pushes a button on it's arm and starts electrocuting Koth. Ahsoka twitches, but otherwise doesn't react visibly. Still, he can sense her extreme displeasure at the situation. She hates seeing things like this, and given her past history on Zyggeria, it probably reminds her of things she doesn't want to think about. And it does the same for him, but for a totally different reason. She's gone strangely closed off. The same way he does when something starts triggering him.

Anakin starts forwards, intent on destroying that stupid droid. He will not stand there and watch as it tortures someone. "One more step and your friend will die," threatens the droid. It finally turns off the electricity, but pauses with a finger hovering over it again, if they dare to make a move closer.

They'll have to get creative. Anakin raises a hand, yanking the droid over to him with the Force, chopping of its arm before it has a chance to react. Gallia whirls around, cutting through the two assassin droids aiming blasters at them.

"For once I have to compliment you," Ahsoka remarks, still continuing to stand there. He's pretty sure she's planning to attack them after the rest of the droids are destroyed. Is this simply for delay tactics? Probably. There's no way she could defeat him and a Jedi Master at once. Either way, they need to hurry up and get Koth out of here before Grievous returns.

The two nearest assassin droids lunge forwards, brandishing their long knives. Anakin ducks the first slash, slicing it in half with his lightsaber. Gallia dodges the blade of the one attacking her as well, quickly leaving it in pieces on the floor. Several more immediately leap at them.

The tactical droid slowly stands back up, scrambling towards where its arm is lying on the floor. Anakin Force-throws one of the assassin droids to the side, spinning to cut through a second as its blade swings for his head. Gallia slices another in half, then Force-throws the one attacking her across the room, knocking it backwards into a shaft below. Another droid lunges at him, and he kicks it back into a control screen a distance away.

The two remaining assassin droids leap through the air at them. Both of them dodge out of the way as the droid hits the floor in between them, nearly stabbing its knife into the durasteel plating of the deck. The other jumps on Gallia. She ducks away from its attacks as the second droid slashes at Anakin.

Finally kicking it aside, she cuts it in half. Anakin throws the last one attacking him backwards into the wall, chopping off its head.

The tactical droid picks up its arm gleefully, preparing to the push the button to kill Koth, completely oblivious to the fact that it doesn't have a finger to push it with. Droids' stupidity really is an advantage sometimes. It promptly freezes, looking back and forth between the button and its stub of an arm. Stupid droids. It should have been smart enough to know that. Even Ahsoka looks almost amused where she's been standing, unmoving, the entire fight. Anakin slices the droid in half, letting the sparking pieces fall to the ground.

Ahsoka ignites both her lightsabers, lunging at them. Anakin spins around to meet her blow. She swings for him again, and Gallia steps forwards parrying the blow from one her blades. Anakin shoves Ahsoka back, taking a swing of his own.

Blue and red blades clash furiously. Ahsoka is forced onto the defensive as Anakin and Gallia continue pressing forwards. The Togruta jumps back a step to avoid Anakin's blow and kicks the Jedi Master across the room.

"Well, your fighting has gotten a little better," Anakin remarks. But he'd take the time to be more impressed if they didn't have a Jedi Master's rescue to be attending to. He might be glad to see her again, to know she's alright, but this wasn't exactly an ideal place for them to run into each other. He wants to continue their conversation from last time, though not while they have an audience. Hopefully, her opinion of the Jedi has changed to a point.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ahsoka shrugs, stepping back for a moment only to lunge at him again.

He blocks her blow, their blades clashing into a saberlock for a moment. Gallia jumps up, running back to the fight. Ahsoka kicks Anakin backwards, whirling around to meet her blade.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan's voice suddenly crackles through his commlink, "I hope you've rescued Master Koth, because Grievous is headed back to his ship."

"Not yet, but we're getting there," Anakin replies, ducking as Ahsoka nearly beheads him. "We've got a flailing Togruta here."

"Well, I've got two Jedi Master that can't even defeat me," Ahsoka retorts smugly, lunging at them again. Anakin spins, blocking her blow. He'd probably take the time to get annoyed if he hadn't already gotten used to her attitude from back on Mardiun. If not for the situation, he'd probably be trying to talk to her about his offer again. As time goes on, she seems more and more... gray. Maybe they'll have a chance again before she gets off the ship. Who knows?

"First off, I'm still a Knight. Secondly, if I was trying to defeat you..." Anakin raises a hand, sending her flying across the room. "I wouldn't have a problem."

She slams hard into the wall, collapsing to the floor. She moves slightly, a soft groan escaping her lips.

"We must hurry," Gallia says, eyeing the fallen Sith assassin for a moment to ensure she isn't getting up yet before hurrying over to Koth.

They deactivate the binders, catching him before he can collapse to the floor.

"You both go," insists Koth as they help him to the door, "I'll make it back. I'll be fine."

"I'll have to disagree with you on that one," Anakin replies, "Master Gallia, you go with Koth. I'll go find Obi-Wan." Normally he might go himself – he knows Koth isn't exactly light, and she's going to have a hard time carrying him – but Obi-Wan might need help against Grievous, and besides, he hopes to see Ahsoka again.

Gallia nods. "I'll get Eeth back to the shuttle immediately."

**w**

Obi-Wan sprints down the hall of the cruiser, finally reaching the last turn in the hall where his and Grievous' ships are connected. He ducks back against the wall, waiting for the cyborg to show himself. He's got to be around here somewhere, trying to get back to his own ship before the connection breaks, which will leave him stranded on a Republic cruiser.

Suddenly, a certain very familiar Togurta dashes around the corner, igniting her lightsabers. Obi-Wan's blue blade hisses to life as she jumps at him. He parries the blow, backing up a step as she unleashes a barrage of attacks on him. Time to stay on the defensive until she tires herself out. Or until the ships break apart, and she's left stranded here.

"I wouldn't have expected to see you hanging out with a coward like Grievous," he quips, blocking her next slash.

"He's not my preferred choice of ally, thanks for asking," Ahsoka shoots back, swinging at him again. He blocks the blow, their blades catching in a saberlock until he shoves her backwards. She stumbles back a step before lunging at him again. "But unfortunately, I don't think Dooku cares."

"Yes, he doesn't seem to care about your opinion very much," he replies dryly, their blades cutting downwards.

"Why should he?" she shoots back, smirking, but he can sense her underlying anger. "I'm just an assassin."

"You're a person."

Ahsoka steps back at that, staring at him in with something akin to confusion. "That doesn't really mean my preferences matter." She even sounds like she believes it.

"Of course, they do." Obi-Wan finds himself wondering exactly what Dooku's been teaching her if she truly believes that. At least he knows that he and Anakin are getting somewhere with her, albeit slowly. She doesn't have nearly the same darkness that she did on Teth, and she has even less now than she did on Maridun. The conflict in her is growing. If she can only understand that she doesn't have to stay with Dooku, that there is a choice beyond that – She has to want to make it. For someone who hasn't had free-will her entire life, he knows why it might be difficult.

She slowly circles around him calculatingly, eyes narrowed. Finally, she shakes her head. "I don't know what you're getting at, but it doesn't matter. I'm a Sith. I don't need a Jedi to look out for me."

"You didn't seem to be doing a good job looking out for yourself," he replies flippantly.

Just then, a familiar clanking reaches Obi-Wan's ears. He looks up to see Grievous dashing past on all six legs, heading for the connection between the ships.

Ahsoka Force-shoves Obi-Wan backwards, whirling around and bolting after. Quickly catching his balance, he runs after.

Cody and another clone close behind Obi-Wan run into the connection between the ships. All at once, the entire structure trembles violently, tilting dangerously up into the air. The lights flicker before going out. Red emergency lights turn on, illuminating the area.

Obi-Wan begins to slide backwards down the hall, which is slowly becoming tilted, managing to catch his balance a few feet down. Grievous skids all the way back down, nearly crashing straight into him. Activating his lightsaber, Obi-Wan swings down at the cyborg.

Cackling maniacally, Grievous ignites two of his own blades, intercepting the blow barely on time. He shoves Obi-Wan back, turning and dashing up the shaft again, on all his feet. Ahsoka continues to run up the shaft towards the other end.

Obi-Wan and the clones continue up the tunnel in rapid pursuit. If they can reach the ship before it's too late...

The whole structure shakes violently again, before tilting nearly vertically. The back end of it starts breaking away from the Republic cruiser. Everyone scrambles for handholds to prevent themselves from falling all the way back down the tunnel. Using the Force to help him, Obi-Wan is able to find a grip barely in time.

One of the clones has found a handhold on the wall a distance below, and Ahsoka is nearby. The second clone is farther below them both, just barely out of reach of the vacuum of space. Getting to the top now is really going to be a challenge, especially while simultaneously fighting. Letting go will mean death.

He can sense Ahsoka's fear as she clings on and wonders how much of her dark side is being fueled by at her own treatment. It's no wonder she's struggling with self-worth issues.

Grievous, thanks to his excessive number of limbs, is hardly affected as he races up the practically vertical wall to his ship on the other end. He cackles madly as he pulls himself through the opening onto his ship and turns to look back at them. "Until we meet again, Kenobi," he cackles, reaching for a button to close the door of to the entrance of the ship into the connect between the two. He's trying to get them all sucked out into space. And he's going to let Ahsoka die with them.

Anakin sprints around the corner. Finally. Where has he been all this time? Igniting his lightsaber in a flash, he lunges at Grievous. The cyborg whirls away from the button and starts wildly spinning his four lightsabers.

"Anakin Skywalker," croaks Grievous, "I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little... older."

"General Grievous. You're shorter than I expected," Anakin informs him lightly as the five blades interlock. "But your skills are worse than Ahsoka's, which is saying something."

"Jedi scum!" snarls the droid general, throwing his whole weight on Anakin, forcing him a few steps back. Their lightsabers clash a few more times, when the entire structure trembles violently, as the connection between the two ships is nearly yanked free. Instantly, everyone is being suctioned back down, towards the end which is now partly open to space.

Obi-Wan's grip on the floor-turned-wall comes free and he keeps falling, only for Cody to turn and grab him with his free hand. Below him, the Ahsoka and the two clones are jerked off their handholds. Ahsoka manages to re-attach herself to the wall just a bit lower down – he expects largely due to the Force – and one of the clones is hanging on at the very edge. The other must have been sucked into space.

Anakin and Grievous are nearly pulled right into the tunnel but catch onto opposite sides of the shaft. The cyborg promptly drops down on all four legs and arms, scrambling away from the opening as fast as possible. He disappears from sight around the corner.

Anakin pulls himself over the edge of the door, shooting a cable down. Obi-Wan catches onto it first, hurriedly climbing up the shaft. The other three follow, and as soon as everyone has made it through the door, Anakin slams his hand down on the controls near the door. It slides shut, cutting them off from the vacuum of space. "Seems even Grievous doesn't have a care in the world letting you die," he remarks. Ahsoka glares back at him before running for the door.

"Hurry! We can still catch them," Obi-Wan urges, preparing to run after.

"Gallia's leaving," objects Anakin, "We'll be trapped on the ship, and facing down Ahsoka and Grievous together, plus a whole army of battle droids. Besides, it's blowing up, and we'll go with it if we don't leave."

He knows Anakin's right, as much as he hates to admit it. Chasing after Ahsoka now would be extremely risky. They've gotten out of many situations before, but there's no need to push it.

"Alright," concedes Obi-Wan, "Let's call Gallia." He pushes a button on his comm. "Gallia, come in. We're in a bit of a spot and we need a way off of Grievous' ship."

"There's a large hanger near your position," she replies a moment later, "Make your way there and I'll pick you up."