Ahsoka landed with a splosh. The garbage chute had turned into a slide, ending up depositing her into a mass of rubbish, mixed with what appeared to be water that came up to thigh height.
The stench was overpowering to say the least, and Ahsoka had smelled some pretty disgusting things before. Dead bodies, lightsaber scoring, Anakin's cooking, but this almost topped it.
Still, she couldn't complain. If this lead to a side route to their goal, and would allow them to bypass much of the imperial troopers, then she had to take it, discomfort be damned.
Regaining her balance from her fall into what appeared to be a trash compactor, Ahsoka began looking around for the way out. No doubt there was some sort of safety hatch nearby for her team to use. She just prayed that the empire didn't decide the crush the trash currently present with her. That would not end well for her.
Suddenly, her montrals picked up the sound of cursing and screaming. Turning to look up at the chute she had arrived in on, Ahsoka smirked as Hondo Ohnaka came flying out face first into the mess, briefly being submerged in the pungent water, before resurfacing with coughs and splutters.
"Your clones pushed me down here!" Hondo spoke in between his coughing fit. As far as Ahsoka was concerned the old pirate deserved it.
"It's not that bad Hondo." The Togruta spoke, her smirk still evident on her face. Hondo looked up at her outraged at her defence of the clones antics.
"Not that bad? It smells down here! Worse than a hutt!"
Ahsoka chuckled again. Worse than a hutt was a bit of an overstatement, and she could say that having met Jabba.
It was then that three more figures came flying out of the chute in quick succession. Ahsoka turned to watch as Rex, Wolffe and Gregor settled from the slide down, brushing off any water or trash from their armour.
Hondo meanwhile continued to grumble to himself, muttering things about the water ruining his outfit.
"You boys ok?" Ahsoka inquired towards the clones.
"Never better Commander, we got a way out of here?" Rex spoke first, loyalty ever present in his tone.
Glancing around the room, Ahsoka began to search for their exit again. A few moments of searching later, and something caught Ahsoka's eye. One part of the wall was discoloured.
A secret door!
"There. Gregor, see if you can get it open." Ahsoka commanded, pointing towards the discoloured section. The clone commando nodded once before moving to search for some sort of internal override. If necessary, Ahsoka would use her lightsaber to cut the door open, but she would rather hold off just in case.
As Gregor got to work, Ahsoka began to think. So far, the mission had gone well. Yoda's death was a shock to the system for all, and a reminder of just how dangerous this mission was.
Her only comfort was that in his final moments, Yoda seemed happy. Happy as he had been in the days before the clone wars.
He had been at peace, and he had accepted what lay before him.
Ahsoka hoped that when it was her turn, she would feel the same way.
Still, they had a mission to complete. She could worry about her fate later on, as she had no intention of dying today, nor did she had any intention of letting anyone else sacrifice themselves for her.
The force had been surprising quiet since they had boarded the battle station. Ahsoka had expected Sidious to be haunting her throughout the mission, taunting her with visions and words, all with the aim to throw her off balance.
But he had only done so once so far. He seemed to be mainly leaving her alone.
'But why?' Ahsoka mulled to herself.
With the force reasonably quiet, Ahsoka could instead focus on other things, such as listening to cues from it to act.
"Ah ha! Got an interface panel here. This will just take a moment commander." Gregor spoke up, his hands moving over the discovered panel.
Ahsoka was about to compliment the work of the commando, when the force sang a warning to her. A major warning.
Before she had time to react, she felt something beneath the water curl up around one of her ankles.
It was clearly not some stray rubbish.
Ahsoka glanced up towards Rex in surprise at the unexpected touch, before she felt herself suddenly pulled downwards into the water.
Before her head was fully submerged in the water, Ahsoka heard the familiar voice of her oldest friend call out in panic.
"AHSOKA!"
So far, the coast had been clear for the second team, which had been a massive, but not unwelcome surprise.
Pretty much everyone had expected an ambush the second they had stepped out of the turbolifts, but instead they had been greeted by an endless empty hallway to traverse through.
Still, that suited Kallus just fine. He was sure they would encounter trouble sooner or later, especially now that they had liberated the Wookiee's from the detention centre.
And yet, so far nothing had attacked them.
Then again, they had not reached the bridge that AP-5 had spoken about yet. Kallus was almost certain they would encounter trouble there.
Fenn Rau had agreed, and had planned for this. They expected the bridge to be narrow, so had arranged themselves to cross it single file. Kallus had offered to take point, the Mandalorians behind him. Zeb would be behind them, and then the force sensitive individuals. After them, the rest of the team would cover the rear, and the Wookiee's would come after them.
Kallus thought that Rau was somewhat negating the Wookiees, sacrificing their protection for the safety of the team.
The old imperial Kallus would have agreed, but since working with Ahsoka, Kallus had changed. The Wookiees had to be protected.
Still, Rau was in charge of team two, and Kallus trusted Ahsoka.
Glancing ahead, Kallus spotted that they had come to another doorway in the seemingly endless corridors of the battle station. Moving to open the door with a spike from Chopper, Kallus nearly gasped at what lay on the other side.
They had reached the bridge.
It was a tall room, with a series of bridges at various heights, each suspended over a black abyss. Kallus didn't even begin to wonder what was at the bottom of it.
The bridge they had to traverse was only wide enough for single file, as they had anticipated. At the far end, another doorway was present. That was their goal.
Another thought came to Kallus' mind in that moment. There wasn't even a guardrail for the bridge. If you lost your balance, you were going to fall.
"Karabast, that's a long way down!" Zeb spoke having moved forward to investigate.
Kallus gulped nervously. Yes, it was. And he had volunteered to go first.
"Ok everyone, we go in the order. Kallus, take the lead." Fenn Rau spoke to the assembled rebels.
Since it was too late to back out, and they didn't have the time to find an alternate route, Kallus began to move across the bridge, keeping his pace steady, and his balance tight.
Behind him, he heard the shuffling of the other members of the team.
"This is crazy! That's like some sort of bottomless pit!" A voice, the one belonging to Ryder Azadi, called out. Many of the team members seemed to hum in agreement.
But Kallus was too busy looking forward to notice. He only wanted to get to the other side. He wasn't that great with heights.
"You reckon this room runs the height of the station?" Quinlan Vos called out with a whistle.
"Possibly. I wouldn't put it past the Emperor to have done this on purpose." Obi-Wan replied.
From the back of the pack, one of the Wookiees, the leader by the looks of it, growled something that Kallus did not understand.
"What did she say?" Zeb called out. Clearly Kallus was not the only one confused.
Vos took that opportunity to interrupt. "She said that it reminds her of Kashyyyk at night. Tall forests consumed in the pitch black of night."
The team continued to shuffle across the narrow bridge slowly. All around them were various other bridges, some above, some below.
And there was still no enemy resistance. Something was very wrong.
Then, the inevitable happened. Someone lost their balance.
From nowhere, Saw Gerrerra broke out into a coughing fit. The entire team turned in alarm towards Saw, as the heavy coughs racked his body to the side.
He was only inches from losing his balance and falling off the edge into the void below, when an orange hand reached out to stabilise him.
"I've got you Gerrerra!" Cham Syndulla called out, as he helped Saw regain his balance once the coughing fit stopped.
Saw struggled to breathe for a few seconds, before her rose back up to his full height.
"Thanks Syndulla. I owe you one."
The team breathed a sigh of relief at the save. They had nearly lost another one in that moment.
Turning back around Kallus continued across the bridge, the team following. He was near the other side now. Just a few more steps lay between him and the door. All was going…
Then, the door opened suddenly, surprising Kallus. The ex-imperial agent froze in his spot at what lay on the other side.
A tall figure, dressed in imposing red armour, armed with a staff of some kind, one's that tip bristled with energy, clearly poised to strike.
An Imperial Royal Guard.
They were usually only ever seen guarding the emperor. What was one doing in this part of the station?
"Uh, we've got a problem!" Kallus heard Sabine's voice sound across the chasm like area. All around them, doors opened on various levels, both above and below, and various imperial Stormtroopers flooded the bridges, their blasters aimed at the rebels.
A further surprise was the appearance of jet-pack wielding troopers, who flew to the same level as the rebels.
They were surrounded. Their only hope was to get past the imperial Royal Guard in their way.
And only Kallus could currently get to him, and he stood no chance against the guard with a blaster.
Clearly, someone else had the same idea.
"Kallus! Catch!" A voice, the one that belonged to Garazeb Orrelios, echoed out. Turning his head to glance back at his Lasat friend, Kallus saw Zeb throw his bow staff in his direction. Reaching out, Kallus grabbed the weapon, extending the ends and activating the melee function on it. Both ends of the staff glowed and crackled with purple energy.
"Take him down!" Zeb called out, before accepting a blaster off of Ezra.
Turning back round to completely face the Royal Guard, Kallus crouched into his preferred fighting stance. The Royal Guard did the same, angling his pike like weapon towards Kallus, its tip evidently burning hot like a lightsaber.
Taking a breath, Kallus braced himself. He may not possess the force like other members of the team, but rigorous hours of training with a weapon similar to Zeb's had helped him hone his skills considerably. Hopefully, he had this.
The Royal Guard moved first, advancing with speed and swinging his staff towards Kallus.
Kallus reacted, bringing one end of the bow staff upwards to clash with the point of the guard's weapon, before manoeuvring the other end of the staff in the opposite direction, hoping to catch the Royal Guard by surprise.
Not being able to see the guard's face behind his crimson helmet, Kallus couldn't tell if the guard was surprised, but judging by his reaction he wasn't. The guard pivoted his own staff, deflecting Kallus' attempt to catch him by surprise.
The two entered into a prolonged duel, each trying to swing their own staffs in wide arcs to catch the other by surprise, both looking for a weakness.
Further strain was placed upon Kallus as he had to not only watch his step on the narrow bridge, but was also painfully aware of the battle that had erupted behind him.
Blaster fire echoed throughout the room as the various imperial forces present tried to pick off the rebels. The Jedi and Maul had ignited their sabers, and were deflecting shots aimed at them from all sides.
The Mandalorians, under Rau's instruction, had taken to the air via their jetpacks, and were moving round the room with lightning speed, evading and blasting imperial Jumptroopers, as well as those on the other bridges.
Suffice to say, the room was utter chaos, and it was looking very bad for the rebels.
Kallus pivoted again, the strain of the blow from the Royal Guard's staff knocking him backwards slightly. Narrowly, he avoided falling off of the bridge, and advanced on the guard, anger in his eyes.
Grasping the bow staff in the centre with both hands, Kallus attempted to rotate the staff at speed, hoping the continued blows would force the Royal Guard back.
And it did. After trying to deflect a series of blows, the Royal Guard evaded backwards towards the doorway again, out of range of Kallus' moved.
The former ISB agent ceased his whirlwind, and advanced as normal, staff poised to strike.
The Royal Guard saw this and crouched again into a ready position, anticipating Kallus' strike.
Shifting his tactic again, Kallus aimed high for the guard's head, hoping to catch him by surprise.
However, the guard clearly expected something like this, as he ducked under Kallus' swing and dashed forward, crashing into Kallus with considerable force.
Kallus was knocked backwards from the force of the impact, landing on his rear. The bow staff fell from his grip, arcing backwards and landing behind him on the bridge a distance away.
Twisting his head in alarm, Kallus realized that he wouldn't be able to reach the bow staff in time. The Royal Guard was poised to strike, the glowing end of his pike pointing directly at Kallus' heart.
'This is it. This is how I die.' Kallus thought grimly, closing his eyes in acceptance, and waited for the lethal blow.
Around him, he could hear the sounds of combat as the rest of the team engaged the imperial forces. He hoped they would succeed where he had failed.
Bracing himself, Kallus waited.
And then he heard a cry of pain, one that was not his own. Opening his eyes to survey what had happened, Kallus caught a glimpse of the Royal Guard tumble backwards, a glowing orange burn on his shoulder from where he had been hit by a blaster bolt.
The guard dropped his pike, his other hand coming to grasp the burn in agony. The guard's weapon landed at Kallus' feet, and the ex ISB agent's eyes widened in surprise.
Glancing behind him to the direction from where the blaster shot had come from, Kallus spotted Saw Gerrerra, blaster aimed in his direction. The rogue rebel nodded once at Kallus, before shifting his attention back to the fight at hand, blasting down an imperial Jumptrooper out of the sky.
Kallus shifted his gaze back round to the wounded imperial Royal Guard. Reaching forward, Kallus grasped the guard's weapon in his own hands, feeling the weight. Rising to his feet, Kallus angled the point of the weapon down at the fallen Royal Guard, and lunged.
The tip of the weapon pierced through the guard's armour like it was nothing, burning a searing hole in the crimson armour of the Royal Guard.
A cry of pain emanated from the guard, before Kallus pulled the weapon sideways, the body of the guard following.
Pulling the pike out of the body, Kallus watched as the Royal Guard tumbled off of the edge of the bridge, plummeting down into the black void below.
Sighing in relief, Kallus allowed himself a few seconds to regain his focus. That had been too close. Were in not for Saw Gerrerra…
Kallus might have very well died there.
He would have to thank Saw later on.
Raising his head, Kallus glanced to where the Royal Guard had emerged from. The door at the end of the bridge was now unobstructed. All Kallus had to do was get it open.
Removing the data spike he possessed, Kallus dashed towards the door, inserting the device into a control panel, and began to bypass the security.
Seconds later, the door opened.
Ezra could safely say that the current battle he was in was pure chaos, perhaps the most dangerous and testing battle he had ever been in altogether.
Right now, fighting an Inquisitor looked like an easier job.
The bridge was incredibly narrow, and made it hard for Ezra to employ any real footwork whilst using his lightsaber. To the young Jedi, he seemed stationary, unable to move to assist in much capacity.
Kanan and the others weren't in much better shape. Maul had taken to throwing his lightsaber with the force, bisecting imperials with each throw, only to call the blade back to do it again. The sight of a spinning red arc of death was terrifying, and Ezra had to remind himself that Maul was on their side.
Pivoting his blade to deflect another shot, Ezra glanced upwards to a bridge above them. Sabine was flying around the bridge, firing numerous shots at the troopers attempting the flank the rebels from above.
Ezra's momentary break in concentration allowed a blaster bolt to slip through his defences and hit his arm.
"Arrgh, Karabast!" Ezra cried out as the blast scorched his arm. It wasn't a lethal wound, but one that would need medical attention soon.
The battle was getting out of hand now. As before, there seemed to be an endless supply of Stormtroopers, constantly flooding in to slaughter the rebels.
If they didn't get off the bridge soon…
"I've got the door open. Everyone, fall back now!" Kallus' voice echoed across the sounds of the combat, and Ezra risked another glance towards the end of the bridge, where Kallus had been duelling the Royal Guard. The crimson figure was no longer present, suggesting that Kallus had won. Instead, the ex ISB agent stood by the now open door, waving the team to follow.
Hearing Kallus' call, the team responded and began moving along the bridge towards the door. Ezra was in the middle of the group, ahead of the other force sensitives, but behind Zeb, who was now at the front due to the Mandalorians taking to the air.
Zeb abandoned all pretence of safety and began to sprint towards the other end of the bridge, grabbing his fallen bow rifle in the process and firing a few shots upwards at some troopers.
Ezra followed swiftly behind, Kanan and the other force sensitives following behind him.
Ahead of him, Zeb crossed the threshold of the doorway with Kallus, before turning to lay down covering fire.
Ezra was about to increase his own speed when the force sang a warning to him. A warning not about him, but about someone else.
Ezra glanced upwards in horror in time to see it happen.
Sabine had been evading blaster fire skilfully, but the combined might of this many imperial troopers caught her off guard.
A stray shot hit Sabine's jetpack, and the device sputtered and failed, sending sparks out in all directions.
Without the jetpack to keep her in the air, Sabine began to plummet downwards into the void below.
"NO!" Ezra yelled in rage, reaching out with the force to grasp Sabine.
Whether it was due to some kind of divine intervention of the force, or that he had grown significantly stronger, Ezra's gambit worked.
Sabine was suspended in his grip via the force, and Ezra pulled with all his might to save his friend.
Moments later, Sabine came careening through the air towards Ezra, crashing into him and knocking him past the threshold of the door, into safety for them both.
"You ok Sabine?" Ezra mumbled as he struggled to get to his feet, assisting Sabine in the process.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save Ezra." Sabine replied, getting back to her feet and removing her jetpack for inspection.
Ezra nodded happily, before shifting his attention back to the situation at hand.
Kanan had made it through the doorway in the time he and Sabine had gotten up, closely followed by Maul and Vos.
Obi-Wan was next through, followed by the Wookiees, who had been moved up the line in order to protect them.
Watching back out the door, Ezra could see Fenn Rau and Tristan Wren shift their movements with their own jetpacks, heading towards the doorway. Glancing back out over the bridge, Ezra saw the last three people they were waiting for.
Saw was in the lead, with Cham and Ryder closely following. The three rebels fired their blasters backwards, trying to hit someone whilst they fled.
As the remaining Mandalorians reached the doorway and passed through it, Ezra spotted a fast moving light come arching towards the bridge.
A rocket!
"GET DOWN!" Ezra called out to his fellow rebels moments before the rocket exploded.
The rocket hit the bridge behind the group of fleeing rebels, the shockwave knocking some of them off their feet.
Ezra briefly spotted Saw go flying forwards, crashing to the floor in the doorway.
Cham lost his balance and tumbled to the side, his legs dangling off the edge of the bridge. Under the constant strain of enemy fire, it was clear that Cham would not be able to hold on much longer.
That was until Saw, who had gotten back to his feet, turned back around to grab Cham's hand, pulling the Twi-lek back up and helping him through the doorway.
As the two rebel leaders made it past Ezra, the young Jedi looked back across the bridge.
'Where was Ryder?'
As the smoke from the rocket explosion faded away, Ezra saw a figure in white covering in smoke and burns, desperately trying to get to his feet.
His heart plummeted at the sight of Ryder in obvious pain, and he wanted to run out and save his friend. His feet even responded likewise, until a forceful hand pulled him back.
And it was a good thing it did. One moment, Ryder was there, limping and badly hurt.
The next, he wasn't.
A stray blaster bolt slammed into Ryder Azadi's head, piercing his skull, and sending the former Governor of Lothal tumbling off the bridge, down into the pitch black depths below.
"RYDER!" Ezra called out in rage as it happened, trying to reach out with the force to pull Ryder as he had Sabine.
The hand on his shoulder pulled him back fiercely again, throwing him to the floor behind him before a crimson blade erupted from the hand, slashing the control panel and sealing the door to the bridges.
Grief filled Ezra as he stared at the now closed door.
Ryder was gone, just like that.
Looking up at the person who had pulled him back, Ezra resisted the urge to sneer. Why had Maul done that?
Maul for his part seemed remorseful, but not regretful.
"We couldn't save him, and we need to keep moving Ezra." Maul spoke, his voice the same level as normal, not hinting at any form of darkside deception or malicious intent.
The Zabrak was right, and Ezra knew it. They had to keep moving, for Ryder's sake.
Steeling himself, he accepted a hand offered by the Zabrak, and got to his feet, grasping his lightsaber in his hand, before moving to re-join the team.
They had a door to get to. Hopefully Ahsoka and her team would be having less trouble, as well as no casualties.
Author's thoughts
Happy early 'whatever you celebrate' day present. Hope you like. (or, if like me, and you don't celebrate anything, have another normal chapter. :D)
In Memorium: Ryder Azadi
Oh man Ryder, I'm so sorry for that. Really I am, but someone had to go down there.
Ryder is an interetsing character that I fell like hasn't really done anything in the show. He was introduced solely as a plot point to explain the fate of Ezra's parents, and hasn't really done anything since except be the person who resembles Lothal being in danger. I feel like that at times, both the writers and the audience forget he even exists, which is a shame.
Of course, this is not true for everyone, and I'm not saying that about my readers, it's just an observation I have.
That being said, I really do like Ryder, and I hope that he survives the show. But in this story, I wanted a shock out of nowhere death with no build up whatsoever, so Ryder was the one to go. In one variation of this chapter, more people died as well, including Cham Syndulla, but I chose to spare him for now.
So sorry Ryder. You are awesome, but you are now dead. :(
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that the battle made sense. Kallus was fun to write, especially his duel with the Royal Guard.
Next time round, we shift back to the other team to find out what happens to them. Is Ahsoka ok?
I hope you all enjoy whatever you celebrate, or don't celebrate if like me. I'll also understand that you may all be busy, so don't worry if you don't find the time to read or review right away. :)
As normal, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:
willunknown: By this point the story is solely focused on the suicide mission aspect, with occasional Thrawn interludes. That being said, the one shot that I do after this story will include the aftermath of the rebel vs. rebel conflict that went down.
Cranky Paws: Titus has the worst luck, so I kept that joke running. Poor guy.
Thrawn won't fall down stairs because of you then. :)
As for Pryce, who knows if she will pull through.
jamese765: Such an iconic quote for that scene. Glad someone said it.
Poor Titus is just trying his best. Shame he keeps running into Jedi.
Travis Middleton: Thanks, I'm glad you liked all the various references in the chapter. They were fun to include.
No Chewie I'm afraid. He's probably with Han by this point, up to their smuggling ways.
Chiara Polairix Edelstein: I'm glad the chapter was exciting, despite the lack of any real action.
Poor Thrawn indeed. Let's hope his situation improves.
Mogor: Looks like there is a monster in the trash compactor. Uh oh!
Only time will tell for Pryce. Let's hope she gets better.
Mysterious Guest number one: I'm glad you enjoyed the aftermath of Yoda's demise. It was fun to write.
As for more success for the rebels... oh boy!
FossilQueen1984: Titus just has the worst luck. Poor guy.
Glad you enjoyed 'The Last Jedi'. I've seen petitions going around trying to get it removed from canon. I chuckled when I saw them.
LukeDude: To be fair, Titus was going against a Jedi. Even Konstantine would have faired better.
Glad you liked Custos. Was worried that she wouldn't be well recieved, as she was out of nowhere and an OC.
Thrawn has a lot on his plate right now. Let's hope he pulls through ok.
I'm glad you enjoyed 'The Last Jedi'. The mixed reviews have me sceptical about it, but then I know better that taking everything fans say at face value.
Now your questions:
1. Custos is probably aware of Tarfull and Chewbacca's existance. As for knowing them directly, I hadn't really thought about it.
2. Palpatine did feel the death of Yoda through the force. He and Eighth Bro probably had a party when it happened.
3. This chapter answers your question on the weapon used by the Royal Guards. Hope you liked it.
Maliwan: I'm glad you liked the reactions to Yoda's demise, as well as Maul's rather brutal extraction of information.
SLE's fave guest: It is the same garbage chute yes, as seen in this chapter.
Wookiee warriors would usually be a great addition, but in this case they are tired slaves. Let's hope they make it.
You will have to wait and see what happens to the clones. Maybe they won't die. Maybe it will be someone else.
I appreciate your patience in regards to the slow updates. I am working as best I can with this story. It probably won't be finished until new years however.
Hope you enjoyed 'The Last Jedi'. :)