And Monsters Speak
"Just a quick retrieval mission he said. It'll be easy he said. Hardly any real risk he said." Ahsoka grumbled, her right montral throbbing where she had banged it against her seat upon impact.
Ahsoka gasped in pain, a scratched orange hand flying around to press against the blaster wound in her side. "Last bloody time I ever take a politician at his word. By the Huntress I'm tired…"
It was her seat's restraints that had saved her. The only wounds she had to show for her crash landing were a few additional scrapes, and bruises. A sharp pain searing through her right montral making Ahsoka reconsider. Delicately she felt around her head horn and felt the raised cracked ridges that spiderwebbed across the bone and flared out across her right brow. It was an old wound, a memento from her first Master, before Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker. She hoped the scarred bone wasn't rebroken when she struck her head.
By some minor miracle when the freighter had ripped apart just above the trees her cockpit remained mostly in one piece when it plowed through the gnarled swamp flora and ending its violent journey half-sunken in a watery quagmire.
"Not the worst landing I've had." She admitted out loud. "Though it could've gone better…"
Her voice sounded too loud in the suddenly suffocating silence. The swamps were filled with a deathly sort of quiet Ahsoka had only experienced in ancient temples-
-And tombs.
After being crammed with the other rebels in a fleeing starship and enduring the constant ambient racket of living in a city the lack of noise was unnerving. Now there was only the hiss of water evaporating against the cockpit's wrecked heat-shield, the creak of her leather jacket as she shifted in her seat, and the sounds of her own ragged breathing.
It seemed whatever skugg-hole she had crashed in was nearing the end of its rotation, Judging from the darkening sky from her tilted view of the forest and sky. The last vestiges of sunlight were fading fast, darkening the destroyed cockpit and her already dour mood.
Everything hurt and moving- or doing much of anything really- was the last thing Ahsoka wanted to do right now but staying here wouldn't make her feel better. She'd been shot, blown out of the sky, and rattled around like a hard gumball between someone's teeth, and she hadn't slept in nearly two rotations.
She can chalk this up as one of the worst days she's had in a while, though the day Master Kenobi informed her that Anakin had died still took the prize for first place, with Order 66 being a close second.
An involuntary shudder coursed through her bruised body just from remembering the sensation of her entire world being pulled from out under her from Kenobi's stricken expression. She swallowed the thick weight in her throat and shook herself.
Nope, Nope, Nope. Not going to open that particular can of worms.
The cockpit was pitched nose-first into the murky quagmire, leaving her suspended by the restraints holding her against her seat. She patted herself down for any injuries that would impede her movement and checked a pouch on her utility belt that held the cause of all this madness, the Imperial Star Destroyer plans.
She breathed a sigh of relief when her fingers brushed the holodisk. Perhaps this skugg-show of a mission could be salvaged after all. Now all she had to do was get out of this stupid seat.
Her tired fingers fumbled entirely too long with the clasp that was pressing uncomfortably underneath her breasts, then after fighting with the stubborn latch the harness came loose and she just barely caught herself from slipping from the straps and shishkabobbing herself on the shattered transparisteel shards below.
Climbing out of the suspended pilot seat was problematic, muddy water had leaked in through the shattered windshield obscuring any debris and sharp nasty waiting for a clumsy Togruta to step on it. Ahsoka held the straps by her arms and levered her toes gingerly into the water, kicking aside the smashed bits of transparisteel and metal to find a tentative foothold against the partially submerged control panel.
A groan of pain escaped from her lips. Her body protested every tiny movement and fidget, arguing with shearing pain in muscle groups she didn't even know she had, but somehow she slipped free of her harness. She stood hunched with her hands braced against the roof as she inspected the windshield and the quagmire seeping in through the shattered opening.
Ahsoka frowned. The smashed windshield looked like it had a hole big enough for her to slip through, but she'd have to shimmy through on her belly and crawl through the mud the ship was stuck in.
She so did not want to get all wet and slimy. This was her good work outfit! So what if there's a little blood soaked into most of her white tank top? It'll wash out, eventually. But swamp ooze doesn't care.
Ahsoka glanced back at the rear of her half of the wrecked ship hoping against hope that she could save herself from a slimy swim but all she saw was twisted metal and wires. With a heavy sigh she turned back to the windshield and got down on all fours, dipping her chest into the murky water in the process.
Guess I have a brown, well everything now. Ugh, I hate mud.
She got through the windshield with little difficulty, though a few sharp edges of transparisteel did bite a little at the flare of her hips and snag at her utility belt.
I remember when I used to be flat enough to crawl around air ducts. Just when did my butt get so big?
Her thoughts were interrupted when instead of solid durasteel her palm met soft muck and she sank face first into the water with an indignant yelp. She thrashed about trying to right herself but only succeeded in slipping off the rest of the way. Went she finally got the right way up and popped her head above the water a disgruntled grimace stretched across her face. She was in shoulder deep standing straight up and knee deep in mud.
"Great, now it's in my boots." She groaned, spitting and snorting out a nose full of swamp water. "Yuck."
Wading through the soupy deluge was tiring and slow. Every step Ahsoka had to rip her feet from the mud with a sucking squelch that for some reason grated on her nerves and sent shivers up her spine.
Traveling around her half of the downed freighter took far too long for the rebel agent's taste. Their crash landing wasn't exactly subtle and she knew whoever blew the Sith inquisitors out of the sky would also come looking for any survivors from her ship as well. She didn't have much time.
Thankfully it wasn't exactly hard to find a way back into the downed freighter, with there being a giant hole in the back and all. The blast had rent the ship open like a popped sandwich bag, durasteel armor peeled open and ship guts hanging out.
Like a womprat that got stepped on. Ahsoka snorted, the taste of slimy swamp water lingering in the back of her throat. It's looking an awful lot like my hopes of getting out of this mudball of a planet alive, as in squashed and very dead.
Looking for a safe handhold to pull herself into the interior of the ship was harder than it seemed. Peeled metal had sharp edges and the ship's structure was shattered in places, leaving jagged spikes od durasteel and ensnaring wires jutting out in odd places.
If I just tap into the force for just a moment I could just jump inside and avoid climbing through all this mess. But… Just the thought of touching the Force again made her nauseous.
Maybe it's better if I just give up trying to scavenge anything from the inside. Last thing I need is a cut up leg or getting impaled on a support beam. Her blaster wound throbbed, supporting her decision to move on, and quickly.
She turned to stomp her way through the water when something solid bumped her side. she grabbed the offending item and pulled it out of the water, then bit back a yelp of alarm.
It was a leg, and it was missing the rest of its owner. She dropped the leg and it vanished back under the water with a splash. Ahsoka rubbed her hand frantically against the fabric of her shirt trying to erase the ghostly sensation of grabbing the limb clinging to her fingers. Then she blinked and stopped rubbing her midriff. It had felt too solid to be flesh-
Ahsoka whipped around, flinging water in her wake as she spotted the ruined but intact remains of the freighter's turret stabbing up into the sky from the top of the crushed hull.
"Piecemeal!" all thoughts of leaving the crash site fled as the Togruta sloshed through the water back towards the totaled starship. "Piecemeal! Are you alive?!"
"-ommander?" A hoarse reply whispered from the turret. "Commander Tano?"
"Oh thank the Huntress." A relief so powerful it hurt pulsed through her body almost causing Ahsoka's knees to buckle. "Are you hurt?"
"Uuuh, well if you see a leg floating around anywhere I'd like it back. Besides that then yeah, I'm peachy."
"Ah poodoo." She forgot where she dropped it. Whatever, she can look for it in a bit. "Nevermind that for now, can you get out?"
The clone's reply was the turret hatch hissing open and toppling off into the water with a huge splash. Ahsoka didn't relax until she saw the one-legged clone clamber to the edge of the hull and waved down to her. He looked no worse for wear then she, mud and slime aside. His jacket and blue worker's trousers were torn and he was sporting a nasty bruise on his cheek but he was (sort of) in one piece.
"You never mentioned you were having a pool party. How come I wasn't invited?" Piecemeal asked sitting down on the edge and hanging his leg off the hull.
"Well you're here now, so why not jump in?" Ahsoka quipped. "Don't worry, the water's as disgusting as it looks."
Piecemeal pulled a face and glared down at the water before shrugging helplessly. "Fine, Fine. I-"
"What?" Ahsoka asked. Piecemeal wasn't looking down at the water anymore but off somewhere over her head out in the dark swampland. Cold pinpricks of dread tickled over her scalp and down her rear lek. Suddenly she was feeling very much like juicy prey being sized up by a drooling predator.
"Hide." Piecemeal limped up to his foot and slid back down inside the turret hatch. "I'll help you up! Hurry!"
Ahsoka brokered no argument and splashed across the water to the hole in the rear of the ship, stumbling and banging her shins against submerged debris.
"Ow. Blasted-! Ugh, I am so done with getting hurt today!" The young woman snarled, fighting the impulse to stomp her foot like a bratty child having a tantrum.
Then she heard it, at the very edge of her hearing. Speeders. And they were getting closer fast. Too fast.
"They're almost here!" Ahsoka reached up for Piecemeal's outstretched hand through a gap in the twisted spines of metal. The clone grunted and strained as he dragged her up inside the wreck, his remaining leg braced against an outcropped plate of durasteel.
Night stole the remnants of useful sunlight forcing Ahsoka to pick her way through the sharp debris stabbing out from the ship's carcass on her dim night vision and instinct. All of a sudden about halfway up she used her free hand to push herself higher and her arm just stopped. She blinked, confused. Climbing for her was child's play. She could climb all day and walk away with a pleasant burn after, so why-?
It's because I've been pushing myself nonstop for nearly two rotations straight, that's why.
"C'mon Snips, time to channel a little Skyguy." She growled, more at her trembling arm than herself. "Quit being a little bitch and dig deep."
psyching herself up with her little pep-talk she heaved herself with an animalistic snarl.
After what seemed like a short eternity, even though logically she knew it was only a few seconds, Ahsoka made it inside the wreckage, collapsing next to a gasping Piecemeal on her hands and knees sputtering for air. Her limbs lethargic and heavy from her water soaked clothes and abused body.
She tired to raise her head but she quickly abandoned that bright idea when the world decided to tilt. The effort from climbing having been the straw that broke the bantha's back. She's tired, so, so tired.
Maybe I should just lay here and let whoever is coming take me…
"Commander, c'mon." Piecemeal was at her side, a concerned hand on her shoulder. "We gotta get out of sight."
"I-I'm-" She sputtered. Her exhaustion, pain, and adrenaline all mixed up in a nauseous cocktail that pressed urgently against the back of her throat. Her stomach lurched and she gagged. She had found her limit, and at the worst possible time.
Piecemeal paled at the state she was reduced to. She could feel the pity from his gaze and shame burned hot through her leeku and darkened her mud splattered cheeks.
"Okay, I got'cha commander, just lean on me." Piecemeal curled her arm around his shoulders and pulled them up onto their feet and further into the ship's belly. Ahsoka fought to keep her legs underneath her with every step, else both she and her one-legged crutch would spill onto whatever sharp and pointy object was between them and the floor.
All the while the whoop and whine of approaching speeders grew louder and louder in Ahsoka's montral.
Stumbling through the near pitch black darkness the pair fell into more than found an open crate half full of shipping pellets. Not willing to look a gift taun-taun in the mouth they slid into the crate and burrowed into the bottom of the mountain of pellets to hide themselves. There seemed to be a few discarded containers floating around in the crate with them, so Piecemeal threw the containers over them both to disguise their hiding place before sealing the crate as best he could, leaving a crack at the seam to let air through.
Ahsoka shuffled her shoulders and huddled further under the foam packaging until only the barest glint of light shone through the pellets covering her face. She felt Piecemeal's thigh brush her own as he settled on his back on the other end of the crate. That's when she noticed her heavy breathing, so she fought to calm her heaving lungs and swimming vision.
Ahsoka still felt sick when she got her breathing under control but at least she wouldn't give herself away wheezing like General Grievous. Sliding a hand down her hip she tugged her blaster free from its sopping wet holster and leveled the barrel towards the sliver of moonlight cutting into the crate.
The whine of approaching speeders was deafening now, the sound echoing into the wreckage and into their hiding place. Beams of light crossed over the wreckage, briefly cutting through the crate's dark interior before settling back into a tense near-blackness. the growl of speeder engines cut out, replaced by the shouts and barks of their riders.
"You think we'll find anythin' useful on this half?" One reedy voice asked. "Ain't much left 'xcept for a few fleshy bits from onna the crew seared to the blown-up engines at the first site."
"This one's the front o' the ship." A deeper, more commanding voice replied. "Check the cockpit up front. You two circle 'round the hull. See if there's anything worth marking for later."
"For later? Why don't we just rip out what we find now?" A third scavenger scoffed scornfully. "Unless you're scared of the dark?" That remark pulled a few chuckles from the others. Ahsoka counted six at least, though a dozen or more was most likely.
"I ain't afraid of a little dark, I'm afraid of the Lost!" The commanding voice snapped, shutting the rest up promptly. "And you should be too! I ain't about to get eaten just 'cuz you got an ego. Do a quick sweep then mark the shit with a tracking beacon and we'll pick it up in the morn'."
"and what if'n we find survivors?"
"Then wrap 'em up nice and snug and we'll drag 'em back home."
"And if we find a girl?" The reedy one asked in a husky voice that turned Ahsoka's stomach.
"Then we'll sell her off to Jordo. After we have our fun wit' her of course. It's our finder's fee after all."
Ahsoka's finger twisted tighter on the trigger as coarse laughter ripped through the cold humid air. She was sure that she heard a few females laughing as well, and someone yucking that sounded vaguely like a frog choking on a balloon.
The two rebel agents scarcely dared to breathe as they listened to the scavs bumbling around the wreckage, throwing expletives and colorful insults between themselves. More than once a scav had bumped against their crate, ratcheting up Ahsoka's heart into her throat.
Why don't they kriffing leave already?!
"Aaaah." Sighed a shadow blocking out some of the sliver of moonlight outside her hiding place. "I wish I woulda gone wit the others to that other ship we brought down. It looked like it mighta had some goodies on it."
"Shut up already! No one cares. Somebody's gotta sort through this garbage anyway, and it just so happened to be you." The stern authoritative voice from before snapped. "one more bitch or moan out of you and you're walking back home. Got it?"
"…yeah. Yeah I got it." The scav sneered, his outline swaying closer to the crate.
When the crate's lid was ripped off Ahsoka just barely stopped herself from pulling the trigger on reflex. A gaunt face of a human swathed in filthy rags and a pair of goggles popped over the side and frowned down at the boxes laying on top of the shipping pellets, completely obvious to the rebels and their pair of blasters hiding scant inches below the surface. The scav snatched a box from the shipping pellets, Ahsoka's breath caught when she felt his fingertips grazing across her sweaty brow.
"Anything good?" one asked.
"Nah, not really. Just some kinda surplus droid socket replacements." The box the scavver had grabbed spun back inside the crate and landed somewhere in the middle of the crate.
"Hey. You hear that?"
The Scavs all instantly fell silent, enabling Ahsoka to hear what they were talking about.
Speeders. Great, there's more of them. She internally groaned.
"Hey…. Where we supposed to meet up here?" One asked.
"No?"
Ahsoka felt a chill race through her stomach. Something felt wrong, and whatever it was, it is approaching fast.
The howl of approaching repulsorlift engines was louder now that the crate lid was off.
The crate lid being off was also the reason why Ahsoka could hear the bone-chilling snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber over the roaring speeders.
"What the-?!" The scav's cry was cut short by a clipped death-screech, then the night erupted into a maelstrom of screams and blaster fire.
"Go! Let's go!" Ahsoka shouted. Terror brought with it a renewed burst of energy that allowed her to fling herself from the crate with Piecemeal hobbling out hot on her tail.
When her wet boots hit the floor she found herself nose-to-nose with the same gaunt scav wearing a stupefied look of confusion on his face.
Almost mechanically Ahsoka pressed the barrel of her blaster into the scav's stomach and with an odd sense of detachment from reality she pulled the trigger. Her blaster discharged with a muffled thump. The scav grunted and looked down at the smoking hole in his chest, his confused expression never changing.
Ahsoka pushed the still standing scav aside, his limbs going rigid as his dying body went into shock and tumbled into a pile of trashed salvage with a loud crash. Ahsoka caught Piecemeal's arm and threw it over her shoulder as they took advantage of the chaos to slip away from the fighting.
The hum and hiss of a spinning lightsaber clashed with the panicked cries and answering thwap of blaster fire grew shrill in Ahsoka's montral, sending spikes of pain skittering through her throbbing head. When they came to the opening in the wreckage Ahsoka traded a resigned look with Piecemeal and together they jumped into the swampy water below.
For once Ahsoka didn't land on anything nasty, though she did get another stinging noseful of swamp slime. Piecemeal landed well too, though his solitary leg sunk deeper into the muck than Ahsoka had, with all his weight being on one foot.
She was reluctant to admit but Ahsoka did panic a little, floundering around in the water as she struggled to yank the amputee from the mud as not even a dozen paces away the swish of a crimson lightsaber cracked down desperate laser fire. Piecemeal finally came free from the mud with a sucking pop and the mismatched pair stumbled and splashed blindly into the trees.
Just inside the tree line Ahsoka let out a moan. her lungs were burning again, and her muscles spasmed in protest as the brief shot of adrenaline petered out. Dragging themselves to an entangled copse of trees a few hundred paces away from the wreckage the two rebels sloshed onto the soggy embankment and collapsed in between the exposed tree roots to hide out and catch their breath.
Ahsoka peeked out over the root she was leaning on, her blue eyes snapping to the crimson blade of light cutting through the dark in a savage dance. Her blood ran cold when a second red blade ignited, then a third.
Three. Three Inquisitors. Oh Huntress.
This was not how Ahsoka thought she would go. A lucky blaster shot in the back during a mission or alcohol poisoning after drowning her sorrows alone in her dark tiny apartment maybe. But being torn apart by Jedi Hunters when she could barely muster the strength to move? In her nightmares perhaps, and that is if she's lucky and they kill her. The alternate of being captured was too horrible to fathom.
A pleading scream ripped her from her fear induced stupor. There was no more blaster fire. The Scavvers were dead. Her night vision acclimated enough to the dim light to make out the three 'saber wielders kicking over bodies.
It took her a few moments to realize what they were doing.
They are checking their faces. Cold sweat mixed with the wet slime sliding down her back. They know what we look like.
"They are not here!" One of the Red-Blades barked, slashing a corpse apart in a fit of rage. "They are not here!"
"Silence yourself Eleven." A cold female Inquisitor hushed. The ice in her voice sent chills down Ahsoka's leeku. "Your tantrums will get us no further to locating our quarry, and First Sister has little patience for worthless distractions."
First Sister? Eleven? The Imperial Inquisitorius is considered an urban legend even among the rebel intelligence community. A nightmarish ghost story used more as a cautionary tale for operators on the consequences of drawing attention to themselves. Ahsoka knew better, having seen one such Inquisitor at work early in the days after Order 66.
The female inquisitor turned away from the cowed "Eleven" and addressed the third of their number. "Eighth Brother, thoughts?"
Eighth Brother uncoiled his spindly frame from where he had been crouched studying something he pulled out of the water. "Our prey couldn't have gotten too far, Seventh Sister. Not without this." He said showing Seventh Sister the prosthetic leg in his blue skinned hand.
"Sithspit." Ahsoka cursed.
"Eleventh Brother you and I will take a speeder and search the area." Seventh Sister commanded. "Eight, sift through this mess for tracks. Comm me when you find something. Do not go off on your own. Those plans and the Rebel Agent that carries it are too important to trust you alone to retrieve them. Understood?"
Ahsoka swore she could see the rage rolling off of the thin Eighth Brother as he ground out an affirmative. She and Piecemeal tucked themselves further into the roots as the Seventh Sister and Eleventh Brother mounted their speeders and took off circling around the perimeter and leaving the Eighth Brother alone.
"Commander," Piecemeal pulled her shoulder to get her attention. "We can't stay here. what are we going to do?"
Ahsoka glanced out at the dark desolate swamp behind them. The chirps and calls of animals picked up, filling the deathly silence left behind after the savage and loud battle. The Eighth Sith-spawn was right about one thing. Piecemeal wasn't getting anywhere fast on one leg.
"Those speeders." Ahsoka whispered back, pointing at one of the scavver's bikes still hovering a few inches above the water. "We'll steal one of those speeder bikes and make ourselves scarce."
"You do realize that there is an inquisitor standing there between us and those bikes, right?"
Ahsoka waved away his concern. "Minor details. You sit tight and have your blaster ready. I'll swim over there and get close. When I give the signal start shooting."
"You got it. Be careful Commander."
"When am I not?" Ahsoka flashed him a grin and steeled herself for an unpleasant swim.
"You don't want me to answer that." He chuckled, bracing his blaster on a tree root.
Ahsoka snorted then grimaced as she slid into the slimy water and submerged herself up to the nose, keeping her eyes above the waterline as she stroked in a slow, even pace.
The eighth whatchamacallit was oblivious of the approaching Togruta as she did her best shark impression towards the fleet of scavenged speeder bikes, a pair of white and blue striped montrals cutting through the surface of the water.
While the former jedi was sneaking towards her target the lone inquisitor had tracked the path Ahsoka had taken from the cockpit and vanished into freighter's interior. Ahsoka managed to cross the open expanse and pressed herself against the hull and waited.
Her opportunity came when she heard the Red-Blade splash back into the water, then she waved her hand and gave the signal.
The blaster shot startled even her, and Ahsoka was prepared for it. But somehow, impossibly, the Inquisitor dodged the crimson bolt, the missed shot throwing up water from the impact. The Inquisitor let out a feral scream and ignited his blade in time to bat a follow up shot and leap clear out of the water towards the sniper.
The moment the Inquisitor was airborne Ahsoka surged out of the water herself and scrambled through the submerged wreckage towards the closest speeder bike.
It took entirely too long for her to slog through the water, every step seeming to take an eternity, but she could still hear Piecemeal firing his blaster so it couldn't have taken her too long. By the time she made a grab for a battered Fallen republic BARC Speeder and fumbled atop it her limbs were trembling again, though this time from exhilaration, terror, and a smidgen of hope.
"Fuck yeah!" When she threw her foot down on the ignition and the speeder roared to life she let out a wild whoop and tore through the wreckage and across the open water. The Inquisitor had just enough time to let out a half-gasp of surprise when a BARC Speeder outrigger clipped him on the shoulder, sending the masked Jedi-Hunter skipping across the water in a tangled mess of snarling limbs.
Ahsoka didn't pause to glance at the Sith-spawn turned murderous skipping-stone, easing up on the throttle just enough to catch Piecemeal's outstretched hand as she passed. The clone swung himself in place behind her and threw his fist into the air and letting out a whoop of his own.
"Wahoo! Just like old times. Eh Commander?"
The ghostly weight of a mechno-hand settled on her shoulder, and for a moment Ahsoka swore she saw honey-brown locks and a fearless grin beside her. Shaking herself of the image of her former Master Ahsoka focused on not crashing into a tree and gunned the throttle.
"Yeah. Just like old times."
He couldn't believe it.
[-Bring me her head and the plans. Do not fail me, or your fate will be… most unfortunate.]
The ominous wizen rasp clipped to a stop and the Rider rewound the Mission Recording again, the flickering blue image of a Togruta sputtered in reverse as the Holo-Recording played back to the beginning.
He hit play and Darth Sidious's voice grated the air as he spat his kill order.
The Rider wasn't paying attention to his hated enemy. His entire focus was on the still shot of a crouched Togruta in mid-stride, a defiant scowl on her matured face.
After finding the holoprojector in the downed Imperial ship's cockpit he must have played the recording ten times already, still reeling from shock.
She's dead. Or at least so he thought. She had vanished from the Force years ago, just like everyone else he had known before, barring his wife.
The agony of when their Force-Bond had been severed still whispered in his frequent nightmare-filled sleepless nights. It was still there in the corner of the muted gray light that was his Force Presence, a raw open wound he refuses to close, choosing to bear it as a constant reminder of who he had loved and lost, much like his bond with his own Master.
He rewound the recording again, studying the familiar stranger before him.
She had grown, no blossomed into a beautiful woman. He still remembered the sassy toothpick he had been saddled with during the second siege of Naboo. Though she was technically assigned as Obi-Wan's Padawan after the siege was ended by then she and him had already formed a Force-Bond.
In an odd ironic twist of fate Ahsoka Tano gained two Masters that day.
Then, Order 66. The fall of the Jedi Order. And he was alone.
Not as alone as he thought, apparently, though he was struggled to come to terms with the young woman he found in place of the fiery girl he had known.
The Rider trailed the Togruta's muscled curves. Even obscured by her baggy pants and long sleeved pilot jacket she could do little to hide her womanly figure, filled out with consistent training and tempered by combat. A pair of matured montral swept up in graceful arcs above her white traced brow and an attractive face framed by ringed Leeku dangling over a modest chest and just short of her hips. Through her scowl he recognized handsome sloped cheeks, strong chin, and full lips. A jarring departure from the girl he had befriended and helped train all those years ago.
He also noticed her scars. Her left montral still sporting the healed cracks from an old injury she suffered during the Nabooian Siege. It was the unfamiliar ones he was bothered by. A crowned scar from a blaster wound peaking from the nape of her neck, a faint track of hardened flesh across her hand and a faded nick along her jaw from a blade.
A particularly painful metallic rasp from his respirator jolted the Rider from his brooding and he realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled slowly and his respirator equalized, no longer thinking he was dying. Sidious' raspy voice snapped back into focus, and with it so did the reason for his anger.
[ -1st Sister, take with you four of your number. Hunt down this traitorous dog, bring me her head and the plans. Do not fail me, or your fate will be… most unfortunate.]
As the Rider's emotions rose several pieces of discarded debris on the floor rattled and rose into the air with them. With a mechanical snarl the Rider rose from his seat and swept from the cabin stepped over the corpse of the slain imperial pilot and Death Troopers and spun around to face the downed Interceptor. Raising a mechno-hand the Rider sharpened his will and opened his hand.
The Force answered the Masked Rider's surging rage and the downed ship was slowly ripped from the sucking mud and trembled in the Rider's grasp. The screech of metal tearing scratched the night air as the Rider clenched his fist, crushing the sleek Inquisitor Interceptor into an unrecognizable mass of unless durasteel.
His fury still unsated the Rider took hold with his other hand with a mechanical roar ripped the ship in half, its remnants showering the swamp with shrapnel as the sundered carcass thudded back into the mud and detonated into twin balls of flame.
A/N: For those a bit confused on the canon divergence with Anakin and Ahsoka's first meeting, remember this is an AU of the AU, "Push me away, let me go."
I Hope you Enjoy regardless! and don't forget to comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts!
