Chapter 13: Destroy the Factory!

Ahsoka opened the cupboard and carefully removed the midnight blue tunic, with the high collar and the symbols of Mandalore threaded through it in gold. It also tougher than her other outfits. Perfect for anything that might happen.

Barriss sat cross-legged in the field and concentrated. She focused on her breathing and when she'd reached a steady rhythm, she reached out and plucked her curved sabres from the ground. They floated around her, and she slowly reached out into the Force and started to disassemble them.

Calcian pulled on his flak jacket and took a moment to compose himself in front of the mirror. Then he reached out and picked up his blaster, checking the power pack.

Leorna zipped up the blue bodysuit, taking a moment to check that she could still flexibly move in it and that the more armoured plating sections wouldn't restrict her. Satisfied, she picked up her blaster rifle, adjusted the scope, and started to clean it.

Stood next to the shuttle, Bashalar walked around it, checking his datapad, and double-checking the fuel on the shuttle, the markings on it, ensuring everything was exactly as it needed to be.

Grotu tapped at her scanner, and collected up her slicing cylinders, checking them over, just one last time.

Ahsoka snapped the last gauntlet into place, and moved her arms about, testing the flexibility. Satisfied, she strapped her lightsabres to her belt.

The lightsabre components swirled around her, and then they were brought back, snapping back into position around one another, the blue and green kyber crystals crackling with their pulses of light as they enter the emitter matrix. And then they were closed off, complete, and they floated back over into Barriss' open palms and she closed her fingers around them.

Calcian strode out of his room and walked along the corridor to the front ramp. As he did so, Leorna emerged from her room, slinging her rifle over her back, and together they walked down the ramp and onto the plains. Grotu joined up with them, as the three walked towards Bashalar at the shuttle.

Barriss waited outside Ahsoka's light freighter. She looked up as the ramp descended.

Her eyes widened.

Ahsoka was a picture of power. Her confident stride in the midnight blue Mando tunic, the way she held her body and head, the beads connecting from the band around the bottom of her montrals to run between them and over the back of her head.

This was not Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan and Barriss' friend.

This was the Hero of Mandalore.

Barriss shivered.

Ahsoka graced her with a smile as she passed, and Barriss walked in step with her.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Barriss replied.

They made their way to the work shuttle. The others were waiting for them, Grotu next to one of the speeder bikes.

Calcian raised a hand in greeting. "You two are looking ready to rumble," he said, trying to keep some of the pre-mission anxiety out of his voice. Both Barriss and Ahsoka blushed slightly at his words, prompting Leorna to raise a sly smile. But Calcian didn't notice it. "Now, let's get this started. Barriss, you're with Grotu. You two go ahead and we'll wait for the signal."

"On it," Barriss acknowledged, walking over to Grotu. Grotu slung her legs over the speeder and Barriss sat behind her, putting her arms around Grotu's waist.

"Good luck!" Calcian called. Grotu gave him a thumbs up and gunned the engine and they swept across the field.

Ahsoka watched them go, wondering if she should have said anything. But she'd been worried, worried about giving something away or unsettling Barriss. She should have called 'may the Force be with you'. Barriss would have known what it meant, without alerting the others.

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked over to see Leorna giving her a soft smile. "Come on, we need to start getting into position," she said.

Ahsoka nodded. "Right. Yes. Of course."

"Don't worry about them," Leorna said as they walked to the transport, "even if Barriss doesn't have a lot of infiltration experience, Grotu has more than enough for both of them."

Ahsoka gave her a sheepish smile. "Oh, I'm not worried about that. I'm well aware Barriss can very sneaky when she wants to be."

The speeder bike pulled up towards the factory. The factory was large, a huge building with an opening at the front leading to a hangar that could easily fit two or three transport shuttles. A river ran in front of the hangar and along one side of the factory, where large tubes were plunged into the river, sucking up water to use as coolant for the work inside. Black smoke belched out from massive chimneys at the back of the factory.

A horrible building, but nothing worse than anything Barriss had seen before.

Grotu swung them alongside the river, keeping them out of the perimeter, and when they were a good kilometre away, she took them over the river with the speeder, before halting on the other side. They got off and Grotu swung on her pack as they walked towards the factory.

"So how are we sneaking in?" Barriss asked.

"There's a ventilation shaft at the side that's unguarded," she replied.

Barriss sighed. "Why is it always ventilation shafts?"

"I know! You'd think someone would catch on by now."

"I guess at least it isn't a sewer." They shared a laugh as the factory loomed toward them. Barriss stewed on a thought, wondering if she should bring it up, given everything Ahsoka had said, given everything they'd agreed…

But…well she needed something to keep her mind off her nerves. Might as well do it by creating different nerves.

"Grotu…you know about me and Ahsoka right?"

A smile flickered on Grotu's lips. "I know you had a very long 'conversation' last night, yes."

Barriss blushed. "Well…have you had a relationship before?"

"Oh, several, with multiple genders and species. Why, are you wanting some tips?"

"What? No! I mean, well, maybe, but that's not…" She paused to compose herself. "Just…what do you do if you don't feel…like you deserve it? The person I mean?"

Grotu thought a moment, treating the question seriously. "Well, that depends," she said eventually.

"Depends on what?"

"If it's the other person that's making you feel unworthy or like you don't deserve them, or is reinforcing that idea, then get out of there. Preferably while kicking them to the curb." She winced. "It's just going to be a long drag of your self-esteem being lowered until you're pathetically grateful they give you any attention. Trust me it's not worth it no matter who they are."

"Okay…that's not Ahsoka though. I don't think she could do anything like that."

"No, I didn't think so, but thought I'd better say just in case." She flashed a smile. "Had more than a couple of ex-friends who looked great and wonderful, but then you heard about the sort of stuff they did."

"That's fair…" Barriss said, as her thoughts drifted inexorably to that moment in her past. The worst moment of her life. The one that…made her unworthy. "It's me…" she said quietly. "After…what I did…I just don't understand why she would want to be with me."

Grotu stopped and Barriss did a moment later. She put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Barriss…do you think Ahsoka is an idiot?"

Barriss flinched. "What? No, of course not!"

"Then trust her to make the right decision on whether she forgives you and thinks you deserve her."

Barriss turned away. "But…what I did…"

"I don't know what you did, nor do I need to know. That's between you two. And if you trust Ahsoka, then you should trust her judgment on whether or not she forgives you and you deserve her. And she may decide yes and she may decide no, and it may all work out or it may not. You'll just have to see. But don't decide it all for her."

Barriss stewed it over. It made sense she supposed. It was Ahsoka's decision, that's what she wanted to think about, the time she needed. And Barriss owed it to her, at least, to respect her choice whatever it ended up being. Ahsoka deciding yes wouldn't suddenly absolve her in her own mind, of course.

But she could work on that.

She smiled and nodded. "Thank you Grotu," she said.

"You've most welcome Barriss." She smiled back, then jerked a thumb at the factory. "Now, shall we go clamber through a ventilation shaft?"

"Yes, let's go clamber through a ventilation shaft."

Bashalar flipped the dials on the transport and its regulators started to whine. "Just got the signal from Grotu," he announced. "They've entered the factory, so I'm going to move us closer. Get your costumes ready."

Leorna stood up and picked up her hazmat suit. "The part I really like: dressing up," she said, brightly.

By contrast, this was Ahsoka's least favourite part, as she was reminded as she pulled on her suit and then went through the motions of cursing and trying to stuff her lekku into the suit in a way that would be 'tolerable' if not reaching 'comfortable'. The human-centric assumptions that ran a lot of the Republic had been irritating enough; it was getting worse now the Empire was turning it into actual policies and law.

Eventually, she managed it and then pulled on the hood, fighting it over her back lekku and then clipping it to the lower suit.

She could feel her montral horns poking up against the top of the hood, and the rustling sensation created when she turned her head and that vibrated through her montrals was intensely annoying.

She sat back down on her seat. When she was Empress of the known galaxy…

Ahsoka sighed and settled in to try and meditate and keep her focus. At least the irritation was keeping her thoughts from drifting too far.

Barriss removed the access panel and she and Grotu dropped down into a long corridor, with pipes running along the walls. The walls might have been a light colour at one point, but now they were dark and grimy with dirt.

Grotu walked over to a door directly in front of them and consulted her scanner. She nodded and knelt next to the door panel. "This is the one," she said. "Get ready."

Barriss nodded and flexed her fingers, feeling the Force swell around and through her.

Grotu tapped at the door panel, splicing something into it, then she hit the main button on the panel and the door whooshed open.

Inside were two men, who had been studying the data terminal and screens in front of them, but now whirled around in their seats to stare at the open door behind them as Barriss strode into the room.

"Hi boys!" she announced spreading her arms out. She then flung her hands together and the two men's heads smacked into one another and they slumped into their seats, out cold. "Night boys!"

Grotu slipped around the door and closed it, as Barriss deposited the two men out of the seats. Grotu sat on one of the chairs and wheeled herself up closer to the terminal, inserting the spike into it and letting it slice in. After a few moments it was done, and she tapped at the keys, disabling the security signal mainframe. She tapped at a few more controls, then pulled back, threaded her fingers together and pushed them out to crack them, then raised her index finger. "Here we go!" she said and stabbed at the button to issue the alarm.

The workers looked up as the alarm sounded.

The main workroom was large and austere, with the walls a grimy and greasy white, with a round central control unit platform suspended a few meters off the ground connected to the upper platforms on either side by a gantry, with two other gantries running alongside the walls on which the security guards stood. A network of pipes were layered up around the ceiling of the building, cutting across the room, many of them carrying water that was sucked in from the outside so that soft rumble could always be heard. The work stations had a variety of belts and rotating machines at which the workers were required to work rapidly to keep up with the motions, to ensure the munitions were built. But now the machines and belts all stopped automatically as the alarm issued.

"Attention," the calm female voice announced. "This is a K-12 Security Issue. A gas leak has been detected. All staff are to make their way to the hangar to evacuate until the all-clear is issued."

Immediately the workers left their stations and started to head for the ladders to climb out of the pit and head to the hanger. They didn't rush, they had been trained not to, but nor did they move with the bored ease they had when it was a drill. The supervisors on the platform also looked nervous and were urging them on, as they weren't allowed to leave until everyone was out and accounted for.

In the hangar, Superintendent Lorso checked his datapad as the last of the shuttles left the hangar. The last except for his own, and those of the supervisors.

Everyone out, he thought. Perfect.

Just as he was about to move towards his own shuttle, there was a thrum of engines as the repair crew shuttle came into the hangar and landed. He paused and waited. He had forgotten this bit of protocol, and now he was determined to be extra careful to ensure he didn't forget something like it in future.

The repair shuttle opened and four people strode out, dressed in their hazmat suits.

"Ah, good, you've arrived very promptly," Lorso said, briskly. He checked his datapad. "We believe the leak has come from one of the central extraction shafts-"

"Superintendent, there is no need," the leader of the group said, raising a hand. "We're professionals and we'll sort this out." He tapped at his own datapad held at his side.

"Of course, of course," Lorso replied, aware that the supervisors were edging towards their shuttle. The hazmat suits were obviously making them just as nervous as Lorso. "We'll get out of your way and await the all-clear."

"You do that."

Lorso turned to go. And then paused and looked back, his eyes drawing a line to one of the repair team, the top of whose hazmat suit seemed to be...precariously close to breaking with what looked like horns poking up beneath it. "Is that..." he said, cautiously, pointing at the person. "Is that...regulation?"

"Of course, there's no issue here!" a woman's voice came from the suit, and she waved her hand nonchalantly. "We are professionals."

Lorso nodded. Of course, they were. Probably needed ventilation in the suits anyway.

He saluted them and then strode to his shuttle, heading up the ramp.

Calcian watched the shuttle go, waited for it to get out of sight and then sighed with relief and stripped the suit off. The others started to do the same, Ahsoka with particular venom.

He keyed his comm. "Okay Grotu were in," he said. "All going to plan."

"Great, I'll halt the alarm," her voice crackled over the comm. A moment later the alarm halted. "Checking the database, it looks like everyone, including guards, has been logged as having left so you should have a clear run."

"Okay, but don't let that make you, or anyone else," he said pointedly to the room, "drop your guard."

"Of course not!" Grotu replied. "You get on your way, I'll let Barriss come round to help."

"Good. Standby to issue the all-clear signal." He shut off the comm as Leorna, now with the rifle slung over her back, descended the ramp, helping Bashalar to carry down the crate containing the detonators. Once at the bottom, Bashalar activated the magnetic repulsors on the crate and it slid across the ground without any trouble.

Calcian nodded. "Let's go people!" he declared, heading for the doors leading into the factory. "Sooner we get this done, sooner we can get out!"

"That's everything taken care of," Grotu said. "You can go help them now."

"All right," Barriss replied. She started for the door and then hesitated. "Are you...sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"Don't worry!" Grotu replied. She indicated the blaster strapped to her side. "I'm armed, and it's not like these guys are going to do anything." She gestured at the two control men, who were still unconscious, but securely bound.

Barriss nodded and gave her a smile. "May the Force be with you then."

"And you! I'll see you guys back at base."

Barriss stepped out of the door and ran down the corridor, towards the hangar. She knew the way perfectly. Compared to memorizing the layout of a Geonosian tunnel system, five minutes to look at a map of the factory and know every turn was easy. She took the right turning and then the immediate left, the corridors all looking the same but that was no trouble. A few more turns and about one-hundred meters and she'd head out onto one of the side gantries in the factory floor. Then to set the detonations. Then to get out of there.

She was just making another turn when she felt something and skidded to a halt.

She looked around. It was odd...there was a presence there...a presence she hadn't felt since...

Her eyes focused on a door that was just behind her on the right. A door she didn't remember being on the map. It couldn't be...but the familiarity...it was there...but there was no way...

She swallowed. She should keep going. This was just an echo, just her mind playing tricks, it had to be...

But if it wasn't...

The others could afford to lose a couple of minutes. She had to see. To know.

Cautiously she stepped over to the door and tapped the door panel. It slid open, showing a short set of steps descending to a semi-circular room. At the end of the room was a large screen with a data terminal connected to it. The room was dark, the only light coming from some of the panels on the floor and the glow of the data terminal. The only noise was the whirring that the central processor made.

And on the data terminal was a box.

I must not fear...

Barriss stepped down the stairs and slowly made her way over to the box. Her heart thumped, her palms were sweaty. The presence, the familiar presence, grew stronger as she stepped closer to the box.

I must not fear...

Her hands trembled as she reached out for it.

I must not fear...

She lifted open the box and inside was a lightsabre.

A lightsabre she knew almost as well as she'd known her own.

She took it out, held it in her hands, feeling it, feeling the presence flowing through it, her eyes wide as she stared at it.

Luminara's lightsabre.

She whipped around and looked back at the door. He was shadowed by the light of the corridor, but the way he held his body made who it was apparent and she knew she could see the smirk on his lips.

"Enjoy," said Scorpious Holicron as he reached to tap the door panel.

Barriss screamed and flew at him, drawing and igniting her sabres-

The door slammed shut and she stabbed at it, but the sabres slid off it so suddenly that she had to spin to avoid cutting herself. She slashed at the door, but they kept bouncing and sliding off of it. Beskar or cortosis. The whole room was probably made of it.

She shouted in frustration and then snatched up her comm. "Ahsoka!" she screamed. "Can you hear me? It's a trap! It's a trap!"

Ahsoka stood with Calcian on the central control hub. Below, Leorna and Bashalar were securing the last of the detonators around the area. He tapped at the control hub, downloading any data that might be useful, whilst Ahsoka used the force to place some detonators into hard to reach places, and on the pipes around the ceiling.

"That's the last of them!" Leorna called.

"And that's the last of this," Calcian said, removing his datapad with the information downloaded. "Come on, everyone let's get out of here."

Leorna and Bashlar nodded, making their way to the ladders to climb onto the entrance platform, where there were a few blocks of supply crates stacked. Calcian eyed them, considering whether it would be worth opening them up to see if there was anything worth taking from within them.

Ahsoka paused, looking around.

"What's wrong?" Calcian asked as he started his way down the gantry.

"It's just...Barriss never came," she said, frowning. "She was supposed to come help."

Still walking, Calcian shrugged. "She probably decided to stay with Grotu, figured it'd be better to keep her secure."

"Maybe...but then why not say?" Ahsoka continued, glancing down at her comm, though Calcian wasn't quite listening. Leorna and Bashalar had made it onto the platform and he was halfway along the gantry, going towards their repulsor crate.

He pulled out his comm. "Hey, Grotu?" he called.

"Yes?"

"We're done here, so hit the all-clear in about five minutes and then go."

"Okay! I'll be with you soon."

Calcian paused and behind him Ahsoka raised her head slightly, picking up on the conversation.

Calcian hit the comm, frowning. "Grotu, what do you mean you'll be with us soon? You're getting on your speeder and leaving that way."

"But I'm nearly there. I'll be down in a couple of seconds."

"What?"

Leorna and Bahslar jolted as a round object bounced in front of them with a wet smack. The object rolled a little, teetered, and then came to a halt.

Grotu's head.

"The fu-!" Leorna began before the doors slammed open and a set of troops, at least fifty, armoured in white with white helmets and black eyepieces, similar to Clone trooper armour but not quite, rushed in.

Ahsoka started forward and then stiffened as, the sound multiple of lightsabres hissing to life, like the noise flies bursting from hell, came from above and three figures clad in black, dual-blades whirling, landed around her.

"No!" Calcian shouted, raising his blaster and firing, taking out one of the soldiers. He charged forward, not caring that there was no cover, as he blasted at them, trying to take out as many as he could. He'd heard the thumps behind him but was sure Ahsoka could handle herself. His crew though-

Leorna and Bashalar dove for cover, but as he was reaching the crates a blaster bolt hit Bashalar in the leg. He shouted in pain, and dragged himself to safety, as Lerona set up with her rifle and fired back.

Calcian cursed, as more bolts shot his way and he dove over the side of the gantry, clutching it with his fingers and then dropping and rolling onto the ground, pain thumping up his legs but nothing broken. He scurried behind some of the machinery, as more bolts thudded around him, and he tried to peek out to return fire, but there were too many of them, just too many-

Ahsoka stood in the centre of the Inquisitors circle. Two women, lithe but strong, one wearing a helmet and face mask and the other a clawdite. Presumably, the one who had imitated Grotu's voice. The third was selonian, bulky and towering over her, drool dripping from his jaws as he looked at her in anticipation.

"Three on one," Ahsoka said, keeping her voice calm. She was aware of what was happening to the others, but she couldn't allow that to distract her. It wouldn't do them any good to get herself killed. "Hardly seems like a fair fight."

"Oh, but we prefer unfair fights!" Third Sister said, voice distorted by the mask.

On her last word, the three Inquisitors leapt forward, striking at Ahsoka as one. Ahsoka ducked into a crouch, extending her right leg as she did so and igniting her own white sabres and stabbing them upwards, catching the three blades on the intersection, the plasma spitting and crackling.

"Then you should have brought more friends," she growled. Using the connected sabres as a pivot point, she spun herself around, extending the Force through her leg, so that a push extended out and swept the Inquisitors' legs out from under them.

Second Brother and Second Sister flipped out of it, controlling their descent despite being caught by surprise and recovering. But Third Sister hit the gantry and scrambled up to her feet. And as every predator knows in their instincts, you always go after the weakest in the herd first.

Ahsoka leapt at her, sabres twirling in a humming swirl of attacks that Third Sister only just managed to deflect, as she stumbled backwards across the gantry, spinning her dual sabre and only just managing to keep out of fatal strike range by a combination of rapid retreating and desperate flailing.

"Help me!" she screamed, distorted voice cracking with fear.

Ahsoka drew back her main sabre, seeing the gap and preparing to strike-

Then she rapidly diverted it as she sensed another sabre descending, catching Second Brother's strike. The power the selonian thrust into the blow knocked her off balance, sending her towards the ground, but she twisted her body and kicked off the gantry, injecting a bit of the Force into the motion, and slammed the toe of her boot into the side of Second Brother's jaw as she completed her spin, knocking a few of his teeth out as she did so in a foam of pink blood.

She landed in time to whirl and catch Second Sister's attack on her shoto blade, before striking with her main sabre to force her back.

Leorna spun out and fired her rifle in a rapid burst, striking two of the white armoured soldiers, before ducking back under a hail of fire. Beside her Bashalar poked himself out and snapped off a few shots, before he was forced to duck back, laser blasts sparking off the side of the crate.

Leorna glanced over at Ahsoka, seeing her bicycle kick the helmeted Inquisitor face-first into the gantry before she kicked off the ground and spun up, landing on the railing with expert precision and balance to deflect slashes from the other two Inquisitors. She seemed to be comfortably holding her own, but she also wasn't making any inroads of her own. Anyone would struggle to do so in such a confined space with three opponents hacking at you.

She was the key to this. If she could get her out of that, she'd be able to help them sort out the rest. She glanced down to where Calcian was snapping off shots at the soldiers trying to get down to him and attack him. He seemed secure, for now.

Leorna raised up and fired off another burst, hitting another trooper, and then ducked back, glancing at the ladder behind her leading up to the gantry running along the wall.

"You're wanting to help Ahsoka?" Bashalar asked, in a pained voice.

Leorna glanced at him. "If she can get out of her situation, then..." she began.

He cut her off with a nod. "I agree."

"But as soon as I head up that ladder I'll be picked off."

"Go. I'll get you the time."

Leorna looked back at him and saw him take out a grenade. Her eyes widened. "No, you can't!"

"I can and I will." He gave her a smile, ears twitching. "Don't waste your chance."

Before she could say anything, he spun out from behind the crates and leapt for the soldiers.

Turning away, Leorna sprinted for the ladder and heaved herself up it, not stopping even as she heard the explosion and felt the heat slam into her back.

"Damn it, no!" Calcian screamed as he saw the detonation. He'd seen Bashalar rush out, had seen him be cut apart by blaster fire and then the explosion had happened, definitively killing him and taking out some of the soldiers.

Blaster fire cut him off from doing any more and he ducked back around the machine. Tears stung his eyes, and he angrily wiped them away. He couldn't afford them right now. He had to keep focused. They could still get out of this. Somehow they could.

He glanced up, where the red and white lightsabres were sparking and clashing against one another, nobody seeming to have a definitive advantage. Movement caught his eyes and he saw Leorna sprinting along the far-wall gantry.

Come on, come on, he urged her, as he spun out to fire off another couple of shots.

Ahsoka felt Bashalar go, but she couldn't allow herself to be distracted. She bent onto one knee, catching Second Sister's strike on her main sabre behind her head and then catching Second Brother's single-bladed attack on her shoto sabre, moving her arm back slightly to cushion the blow as she caught it. Third Sister charged at her, but Ahsoka widened her eyes and threw Third Sister back along the gantry with the Force.

Snarling, blood dribbling from his lips, Second Brother slashed at Ahsoka with his other hand, and she shoved herself back towards the control platform, breaking the sabre lock. Second Sister stumbled, before getting shoved out of the way by Second Brother who advanced on Ahsoka, slashing at her with powerful, but heavily telegraphed attacks. Second Sister leapt onto the railing and ran around the side, jumping down to attack her from the right-

Leorna set up her rifle, pointing it, as one of the Inquisitor's leapt onto the railing and ran across her scope-

She squeezed the trigger-

Second Sister spun, deflecting the blaster bolt aside-

And Ahsoka shifted quickly to the right and slammed the main sabre through Second Sisters' back, the blade lancing through the other side of her body.

She could only gasp, before collapsing to her knees and slithering through the gaps in the railing to smash onto the ground below.

"Yes!" Leorna shouted, moving the scope around to take a shot at another one-

A whirling humming noise invaded her ear, and she looked up in time to see a spinning red disk hurtling towards her.

Panicked, Leorna dove over the railing that was sliced apart as she left it, and she plummeted towards the ground, righting herself-

She landed on her right leg and the force of the fall buckled it and split the bone, snapping it out of the bodysuit. She screamed and collapsed over, cradling her rifle to her.

A figure in black, the helmeted Inquisitor, dropped down in front of her. She raised her hand and recalled her circular sabre to her hand.

"That was a stupid thing to do," the Inquisitor scoffed, and Leorna could hear the smile through her mask.

Leorna snarled and raised her rifle and fired, as she used her other foot to push herself back along the floor, a greasy trail of blood leaking from her other leg.

Lazily, the Inquisitor swept the rifle bolts aside, until she lashed out and cut through the barrel of Leorna's gun. She continued to pull the trigger, but the end of it only sparked. She threw the rifle at the Inquisitor, who ducked under with a laugh and then stabbed her blade forward.

Pain flared through Leorna's chest. She cried out, as the burning sensation rippled along her skin, and on the inside of her body, like heartburn only worse, so much worse and the fetid smell of her own skin burning invaded her nostrils and she screamed in a choked wheeze as her ruptured lungs filled with the smoke of her organs.

Then the Inquisitor jerked her blade and she knew no more.

"Leorna!" Calcian screamed, raising his blaster to shoot the Inquisitor-

A blaster bolt struck his hand and he yelled, collapsing to the ground, his blaster spilling from his smoking hand. He dived out for it, grasping it in his left and twisted his body, managing to get off one wild shot that went high and wide before the white boot of the trooper kicked it from his hand and then they were on him, surrounding him and grabbing him as he struggled.

Ahsoka twisted her head as Leorna's pain smashed into her through the Force. Anger bit into her at the agonizing cruelty of what was done, the suffering that was caused, and she knocked the Second Brother's sabres aside, intending to leap over and strike at Third Sister-

She felt the spike of pain from Calcian and glanced in his direction, seeing him get captured, and she started to calculate, trying to work out what she should do next-

The momentary lapse cost her as Second Brother's paw slammed into her back, the claws digging into the armoured tunic. Ahsoka smashed onto the gantry, spilling across it and her sabres spinning out of her hands. She started to scramble up, to dive for them, to get herself into position-

When Second Brother stamped down on her right lekku.

She screamed and animal instinct took over, scrabbling to try and force his foot off as white-hot pain seared through her head. Second Brother growled and twisted his foot, spiking the pain higher and she curled her body and whimpered, strength leaving her arms.

Second Brother reached down and wrenched her arms behind her back, binding them tightly with cuffs and then pulled her up onto her knees. Ahsoka panted, trying to recover herself as the cloud of pain faded from her mind, and tried to think about what she could do to get them out of this, noticing that Calcian was being dragged away in binders by the troopers.

Her eyes were drawn forward as the door opened on the platform opened, and Scorpious Holicron, his hands clasped behind him, swords sheathed at his sides walked through the door, a content smile on his face.

Third Sister leapt up to the platform and knelt before him. "First Brother," she said. "Second Sister is dead."

"Congratulations on your promotion then, Second Sister," Scorpious said, as he walked past without missing a beat. The new Second Sister bowed her head and he could feel the smug, calculating, happiness radiating off her.

But he had more important things to do, as his eyes alighted on the togrutan woman glaring at him from across the gantry.

"Aha! The Legendary Ahsoka Tano!" Scorpious clapped his hands in glee as he advanced towards her. "You know, your name reverberated around the Temple. It seemed like everyone was talking about you. Rescuing Jabba the Hutt's son on your first mission; that move you pulled at Ryloth, inventing the Marg Sabl manoeuvre, now in all the Imperial training manuals! The second battle of Geonosis. Sweeping in to rescue Master Even Piell and Tarkin from Lola Sayu! Your duels with General Grievous and Asajj Ventress, and who can forget! The Hero of Mandalore! Defeating Darth Maul!" He was in front of her now, and he crouched down so his burning yellow eyes were level with her blue ones, grinning at her and holding up a finger to her furious expression. "And, of course, my personal favourite," he said with a cruel whisper, "the scouring of Ahster-Zhen."

Ahsoka darted forward and snapped her teeth at him, going for his finger, but Scorpious jerked it back with a laugh and stood. She snarled up at him. "Where's Barriss?"

"Indisposed, but physically unharmed. Speaking of which..." He consulted a chronometer. "Yes, I should be getting back. I don't want to miss the finale. I only popped by to ensure things were all going smoothly, which I can see they are."

He spun on his heel and strode back down the gantry.

"Barriss told me about you, Scorpious!" Ahsoka called. "Menial at the Temple and now lackey for Palpatine? Quite the side-ways promotion, wouldn't you say?"

Scorpious halted. He slowly turned around and glared at her, with a smile. "A fine sortie," he said. "You live up to your nickname well, snips. But, much as I would love to trade quips with you all day, I am on a schedule." He looked up. "Second Brother, shut her up please."

"With pleasure," Second Brother growled. He slammed his fist into the side of her head and Ahsoka smahsed into the railing. Her montrals rang, vibrations juddering through her head and she blinked, woozy, as lights danced in front of her eyes.

"What are you doing?!" Scorpious shouted, furious. "I need her awake!"

Second Brother took a step back, confused. "You...you said shut her up...?"

"I meant gag her you stupid bastard!"

"Oh right..." He reached into his belt to draw out a thick black cloth.

Ahsoka pushed herself up, grinning, the wooziness fading. "That's the problem these days, isn't it Scorpious? You just can't get the sta-arf!" Second Brother wrenched the cloth between her teeth and tied it off tightly at the back, leaving Ahsoka to glare at Scorpious.

He nodded at her and then turned and walked off, as Second Brother roughly grabbed her by the back lekku and hauled her to her feet.

Barriss observed the box. She walked over towards it, picking up Luminara's lightsabre where she'd dropped it on the floor. She peered into the box and inside there was a small data card, with 'play me' written across it.

She picked it up and glared at it.

It was unlikely she would be getting out of here until she did what Scorpious wanted. She would just have to hope that Ahsoka and the others could handle themselves.

"All right, Scorpious," she muttered. "I'll play your stupid game."

She inserted the card into the port on the terminal, and the screen flickered into life, casting an eerie blue glow onto Barriss.

Sorry, Leorna and Grotu...you were my favourites...

Hi everyone and welcome to 'the chapter where everything goes wrong'; to be followed by 'the chapter where everything goes wrong part II'. And now you all know why the last one was quite fluffy...

Scorpious' plan comes into effect, though exactly what he's got planned for Barriss are to be revealed next time, though there are lots of hints in previous chapters. As for how they're going to get out of this one...we'll have to see...

Thanks again for reading everyone and I hope you enjoyed it!