Taran was roughly pulled on his feet, phrik alloy handcuffs on his wrists. He was still trying to come to, the pain still present. From his disoriented eyesight, he could make out that that they were heading down a corridor towards a room of some kind. Once they were inside, he was violently thrown across a few feet to his knees. He looked around and recognized that this room was the warden's office.
"And who is this?" said the warden, sitting on his chair whilst glaring down at Taran.
"A Republic infiltrator Warden Preed. By his weapons we have confirmed he is a Jedi," said the droid, placing the lightsaber on the desk. The warden looked down at Taran even harder before a sinister smile appeared on his face.
"Ah, another Jedi. Leave us and go back to your business," said the Preed. The droid turned and left, leaving Taran alone with the warden and two other battle droids.
"I won't lie, I'm a bit surprised that you took the time to infiltrate this prison. No amount of Jedi mind tricks or your use of this so-called 'Force' is going to get you out of here," he said.
"That's not my intent, for the moment," said Taran. He stood up, looking defiantly at the warden. "I would like to know why the men imprisoned here are under these conditions? I hope you know this breaks every code of ethics and prisoner treatment in the galaxy."
"You break into my prison and try to reform it to my face? The notion makes me sick, yet at the same time amused. To answer your question, the victors never get called in for war crimes. In every war fought in the galaxy, have you noticed how no one from the winning side is ever put into question for 'crimes' the conflict. That's because to the victor comes the spoils."
"Basically speaking, when our side wins the war, this won't come into any question. In fact I'm doing them a favor, killing these genetic lab rats will decrease their unneeded gene pool," said Preed.
"You see the clones as experiments, but they're not that. They're beings just like everyone else," said Taran, getting angry that anyone would call the clones that.
"Call them whatever you want Jedi, but to me they're just like droids: only meant to kill and follow orders," said Preed. Taran glared, but he was in no position to try and escape just yet. He still needed answers.
"You know if you lose the war, you'll be one of the first to stand trial next to the delegates," said Taran.
"True, but we're not going to lose this war, that I guarantee. Now, what am I to do with you?" said Preed.
"You could let me go and all this can be solved right away," said Taran sarcastically.
"You're funny Jedi," said Preed, just as sarcastically, "but I'm still wondering two things: who else is with you and what are you really here for?"
"You don't think I can break into a prison by myself? I'm hurt," said Taran in mock hurt.
"Oh I have no doubt about your skills, Taran Cyneran," said Preed. Taran's eye widened in shock.
"You think I didn't recognize you? I've had reports on you and other leading Jedi for quite sometime in case something like this were to happen, and it only makes sense you would come here since I have someone I know you know all to well," said Preed, a devious grin on his face. Taran knew all too well who he was talking about.
"Where is she?" said Taran, hid voice sounding like it was on the edge of a knife into a dark void.
"Wouldn't you like to know. She's proven very resilient against all my methods of interrogation. Either way, she's a liability now. She will have to be disposed of, which is what KX-13 is going to do now," said Preed. He turned towards his desk and began to type something into the computer. At that moment, Taran decided to act. He jumped up until he and the floor were parallel and twisting his wrists as best he could, he launched two blasts of air straight at the battle droids, smashing them into pieces on the wall. He swiftly jumped up and did a front-flip, calling his lightsaber to him and slashing off the cuffs, landing gracefully in front of Preed and holding his lightsaber to the warden, much to his surprise.
"You should never underestimate your opponent," said Taran. "Now, where is she?"
"Who?" said Preed. Taran grabbed his throat and pressed him to the wall.
"Ahsoka," said Taran, his teeth grit in frustration.
"Oh yes, the Togruta," said Preed, grinning deviously. Taran wasn't having any of it and slammed him down onto the table.
"Call off your droid and tell me where she is, now!" said Taran, his eyes blazing. Preed continued to gaze at Taran, slowly moving his comlink to words his mouth.
"KX-13, can you hear me?" said Preed.
"Yes sir. Your orders?" said KX-13.
"For the prisoner you are headed to now...terminate immediately," said Preed, right as Taran's fist collided into his head.
"No, disregard that message!" Taran yelled into the comlink.
"En route to prisoner. Termination order acknowledged," said KX-13.
"Call him off!" said Taran, his lightsaber preparing to stab Preed through his head.
"Once a termination order is given, KX-13 cannot be brought to cancel it. You'd best hurry, the eighth level is a long way down," said Preed.
"There's only seven," said Taran.
"So the plans say, but the eighth was specially made for those who might be a problem. Good luck trying to get the-" Taran punched him fiercely and ran off, opening the door swiftly as he began to sprint towards the elevator. The last thing he heard was Preed's laughter as he watched him run down the hall. Taran turned on his own comlink.
"If everyone can hear me, get everyone out of the cells, and protect them as best you can!" he said. "R3, open every door in this prison!"
"I'm coming Ahsoka," he thought.
Preed reached over his comlink.
"Have all units armed and shoot to kill. Everyone here dies."
(Level 4)
Petro's lightsaber began cutting through the metal right after he heard what Taran had said. Ganodi was doing the same to the other door right next to him. Though R3 was opening the doors to each one, they were in different synchronization patterns. Thinking fast, they had decided to cut through the ones that weren't open yet. Clones had started filing out of their cells, wondering what was going on. Ganodi had finished cutting through her cell.
"Get out. You're free now," she said to the stunned. Still unsure, the clones nonetheless walked out of their cell. Petro had done the same thing, and the two now hurried up the hallway to the gathering groups of clones.
"Follow us, we're getting you all out of here," said Petro. The clones were stunned before a shout went out, praises of thanks echoing throughout the floor. The two younglings led the clones from the level towards the exit. Up ahead another group of clones had just got out of their cell. Petro and Ganodi saw them up ahead. Suddenly, a squad of battle droids clanked into the hallway behind the squad.
"Open fire," said one. Four blaster bolts took all the clones in the back, followed by a second salvo. Ganodi and Petro could only watch in horror at what they saw before them. Petro's look of horror morphed into one of anger and he charged towards the droids. The droids fired upon him, their blaster rounds ricocheting off his lightsaber, downing one of them. Petro dodged the others one until he got in close and slashed one droid in half through the waist, cut the legs off another one, plunged his lightsaber into the chest cavity of the last one and stabbed downwards into the one that was trying to crawl away on the ground.
The clones in front quickly grabbed the dropped weapons.
"We'll help you get the rest of our brothers out," said one. Ganodi nodded as they went down another hallway. From out of another elevator came two Super Battle Droids. Petro distracted them whilst he protected the clones behind him. The four clones who had weapons returned fire, downing it in a few seconds. More battle droids began to come from their direction.
"We'll take care of them, just get everyone out," said Petro, he and Ganodi deflecting the blaster rounds.
"Got it," said a clone. Elsewhere, clones who hadn't made it to where they were fighting the battle droids with their bare hands. A group of four clones had tackled down a Super while another had beat down a battle droid and used the blaster to shoot the Super multiple. This method, however, caused casualties. Already the amount of dead or wounded was piling steadily higher. However, the clones had help in the form of the two Jedi younglings who were cutting their way for a path to be opened. Soon, the droids stopped coming for the moment.
"Can anyone hear me?" said Ganodi on her comlink.
"This is Tia. Gungi and I are holding off these security droid forces. Try to contact everyone else, especially everyone else above your level. Try to regroup with them and we'll make our way out of here," said Tia. "Also make sure R3 is okay on your level. Good luck."
"Any ideas?" said Ganodi.
"We have to hold this level. This is the ground level for the entire fortress. Everyone has to come through here to get out," said Petro. The prison had stairways connecting to each level to get to the ground floor. The elevators gave it ease of access, but in case of a prison riot, each stairway could be used as a choke point to hold off any rebellious prisoners from escaping to level 4.
"I'll go get R3 and anyone else who might be alive up there," said Ganodi. Petro nodded as she dashed off.
Taran slashed through battle droid after battle droid before he reached the ventilation shaft. Slashing right through the vent, he dove headfirst in and dived straight down. Back in his adolescence he used to hate free-falling, but now it was near second-nature to him. He kept going until he judged he was at the right spot and used his Airbending to catapult himself towards the last vent he hadn't seen before. He slashed through it into the hidden level. Everything was slightly dark, but he didn't care. He had no time to lose.
As he ran, the necklace in his compartment began to glow. He stopped and looked at the blue-green glow, taking the necklace out. The green crystal was glowing brightly, a blue light inside it giving it a glow between blue and green and it was moving slightly in his hand as if it were trying to point somewhere. It was then that he remembered.
"Hold on," he said. He touched her crystal necklace he had gotten her nearly a year ago and a blue flame shot into it. It mixed with the crystal and soon dissipated in it. The crystal remained unchanged.
"What just happened?" said Ahsoka.
"Whenever you need to find me, all you need to do is follow your heart. It'll show you the way," said Taran.
"Could it work both ways?" thought Taran. He held the necklace up to his lips.
"Show me to her," he said to it. The necklace levitated in his hand before it pointed forward. Wasting no time, he began sprinting down the hallway, the necklace as his guide.
(Level 6)
"This is really a tricky situation," said Korkie, his dual-blasters firing repeatedly into the mass of battle droids at the end of the hall.
"You can say that again," said Bruck as he deflected the shots back whilst the clones behind them opened fire on the droids as well with their captured weapons. "Thankfully most of them were on standby at this level. That should help out Lux and Taran if they're still down there."
"Duck down," said Korkie as he took out a thermal detonator and hurled it down where the droids were. In a few seconds, the majority of them were caught in the massive explosion. Pieces of the droids scattered everywhere.
"Keep moving forward. We have to get to the ground level on the double. Those in the center help the wounded and form a rearguard in case any more droids come from below," said Bruck. The remaining clones did as they were told, each one who could helping any of the wounded, leaving the dead behind as they steadily moved forward. Up ahead they heard gunshots coming from the stairway. Racing forward, Bruck took the lead as Korkie followed behind. They looked to see fighting on the stairwell, Gungi slashing through the droids. The Wookiee youngling moved through them with agility and grace, as well as a ferocious fighting style that couldn't keep the droids aiming sensors on him. He made short work of them, cutting through three of them at the same time.
"Gungi! Good to see you little guy," said Bruck. The Wookiee brayed in happiness.
"Where's Tia?" said Bruck. Gungi pointed up ahead to the fifth floor.
"Korkie, go on with Gungi. I'll cover this level when Taran and Lux get back," said Bruck. Korkie nodded and he and the clones made their way up the stairs as Bruck went back to the stairway that went to the seventh floor.
"I'll try to back them up if they need help," he thought.
The necklace shimmered in rhythmic patterns in front of the cell. He could feel the presence of the being inside. It was the presence he had always wanted to feel near him at all times. He took a deep breath to calm himself, putting the necklace back in his belt and placing his hands on the metal door. Willing his chi to the most important spots of his body, the door crunched into itself and he flung it out of the way with no difficulty. He quickly put a flame in his hands and looked into the cell. When he gazed in, his breath caught in his throat, his eyes widening with shock and horror.
Ahsoka was breathing shallowly on the floor in the back corner of the cell. Her clothes were in disrepair, her body covered in bruises and cuts, some of them still looking a few hours old. Her montrals and lekku has some black and blue bruises as well. There was a large cut on her upper lip and her throat looked raw as if someone or something was choking her. She was holding onto her wrist as if it was broken, her legs pulled up to her.
"Ahsoka," he said softly. He ran over to her, dropping down to his knees in front of her. She stirred, opening her eyes.
"No, get away!" she try to yell, but pain shot through her body.
"Ahsoka, it's me," said Taran.
"You're another illusion. Get away, I'm not going to talk," she said, trying to scoot herself away from him.
"I'm not an illusion," Taran said desperately, trying to get her to see reason.
"No, stay away!" she said again, trying to kick him away, but the sudden movement from her leg caused her to cry out in pain. Taran couldn't believe his eyes. He had to get her to see reason, no matter what. Steadily, he took her head gently into his hands. She flinched at contact, but let him turn her face towards him. The glare in her eyes made her look strong and determined despite her weakened state. He stared into her eyes.
"Ahsoka Tano. I met you when I was six years old in the bathroom of the Jedi Temple. We have friends: Bruck, Tia, Plo, Obi-Wan and Anakin. You and I were as close as two beings can be with each other, and we shared a lot of experiences together, and never once did we back down from danger when we were together. I love you," said Taran, his voice as gentle and soothing as he could make it. "And to prove it.." He took out the crystal necklace from his belt. Ahsoka's eyes widened. Her hand slowly moved to it, her finger touching the tip.
"I thought, this was taken from me," she said slowly. Suddenly, Taran took the crystal and used the tip to make a cut in his left hand. Ahsoka saw the red blood slowly seep from the wound, sliding down his hand.
"Illusions also don't bleed," said Taran. Ahsoka's widened. This was no trick by the torture droid. Standing before her was the real thing.
Taran.
"Taran," she said softly, her eyes watering. Taran smiled. Using her available strength she flung herself on him, her head nestled into shoulder as her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him to her tightly. Taran hugged her just as tight. Silent tears were shed by both of them, the two of them finally reunited after three months
"I'm sorry, for everything," she said.
"We'll have time to talk afterwards, but first lets get you out of here," said Taran, beginning to pick her up. Ahsoka looked to him as he began, until she saw the shadow perched in the doorway. She looked up in time to see the torture droid in the doorway. Her eyes widened in horror, knowing what was next.
"Taran, move!" she yelled. The torture droid charged at a breakneck speed towards his exposed back. Taran turned in time to see it directly behind him, a scythe-like limb hurling straight towards him. His eyes widened in realization...
Zatt and Lagos were making their way down to level 3 with Byph and Amis beside them, clearing the way of the droids in their path. Their biggest obstacle had been a squad of droidekas in the hallway pinning them down for the longest until Amis and Lagos had taken out their thermal detonators and Zatt and Byph used the Force to roll them under the droids and set them off.
Once they got down to level 3, they came up behind a large group of Supers, droidekas and battle droids that were pinning down Katooni, Soniee and the clones that they'd rescued. The two forces opened fire on the droids from two fronts. Quickly gaining the advantage and element of surprise, the two forces made short work of the droids. Zatt and Katooni both slashed straight down through the last Super, the two halves simultaneously falling on the ground before them.
"Glad to see you're okay," said Katooni.
"Likewise. Any more word from Taran or the others?" said Zatt.
"No, so far we're to get down to the 4th floor and hold it until everyone gets there. Then we're getting out of here," said Katooni. Zatt nodded, but then a thought came up in his mind.
"The outside defenses," said Zatt. "They're still online." At that Katooni's eyes widened. If they went outside, they would have no cover. More would die. Why hadn't they thought this sooner. Even if they used the tunnel Taran made, the defenses would have been trained on the entrance, or any makeshift one they would have made. All this swam around in Katooni's mind.
"We'll...figure it out. Right now, let's just get to the third floor," said Katooni.
"More droids up ahead," said a clone a length-a-ways down the hall.
"Come on. The sooner we get out of here the better," said Soniee.
The scythe-blade was planted in the wall, a small amount of red blood dripping from the tip. Taran had been able to move his head in time, the tip only snicking a part of his neck. He was also able to move Ahsoka's head out of the way in time too, the blade missing her lekku by a millimeter. The droid kicked Taran to the other side of the room.
"Taran!" Ahsoka said. The droid turned to her, taking the blade out of the wall and preparing to strike her. At that moment, Taran dove onto the droid, using all his body strength to move it out of her way. The droid tried to shake him off its back before it plowed into the adjacent wall. The force from hitting the wall at that speed stunned Taran, as well as have the back of his head and his back scream with pain at his nerves. The droid turned around, quick as a flash, another blade swinging in his direction. He used his wrists to block the blow at the droid's arm and used his metalbending to sever off the arm where the blade was attached. The droid used its other limb to swipe him to the other side of the cell, the blow hitting him in the ribs. He sword he could felt one or twp sprain or even break from the hit, followed by pain from the left side of his body.
He looked up to see the droid charging at him. Thinking fast he drew his lightsaber aimed a slash at the droid. The droid sidestepped it and used its fist to punch Taran across his face. Blood flew out of Taran's mouth, dazing him. The droid prepared to aim a kick at him, but found it couldn't. It looked to see Ahsoka partially on her legs clutching onto its leg.
"Stop it. Leave him alone," she said, using what was left of her strength to try and stop it. The droid used its hand to swat her aside, making her land sprawled on the ground. This, however, allowed Taran to get in close and stab the droid in its chest. Taran had thought he had won right then and there, but the droid stood unmoving. Its head slowly rotated to look at him. His eyes widened in shock at the grievous mistake he had just made. The droid rotated its other arm into a smaller stabbing blade and drove it through Taran's left side where his older knife wound at Raxus Prime was. The blade went through to the other side, causing his blood to flow out of the wound from both sides. Taran looked at the wound with shock and horror, his lightsaber deactivating and falling out of his outstretched hand. He dropped to his knees, still looking at where the blade had pierced his body. The droid withdrew the blade, switching to a longer sword-like blade. Taran let out a groan as he felt it leave his body, clutching the wound with his right hand, but couldn't react in time as the newer blade came straight towards his body.
Ahsoka dived in front of him, the blade piercing her below the left collarbone, the tip protruding out the other side. Taran's eyes widened in horror and shock, his worst fear nearly realized. At that moment, his senses were honed in altogether and he seized the moment to pick up his lightsaber with his left hand and cut the droid's head clean off. The head clunked on the floor and the body fell on its side, the blade coming out with it. Her blue blood flowed out of the wound.
"No, no. Spirits no, no please no!" said Taran as he quickly applied pressure to the exit wound on her back. His right hand applied pressure to the entrance wound in attempts to slow the bleeding.
"It's funny still, how we're both so prone to injuries," she said weakly, smiling.
"Shh, don't talk, I have to slow the bleeding down," said Taran, getting near frantic. He quickly tore off a part of his jacket to press on her wound. Sadly, his water was confiscated by the droid and the warden, and was probably still up there. Her blood was still coming out, albeit slower, but the amount she lost now, especially in her weakened rate, was triggering alarms inside him.
"I'm going to save you," he thought.
"I'm going to save you."
"I'm going to save you."
"Taran...you have to...get out of here...while you still can," said Ahsoka, her breathing starting to get shallower.
"No! I'm not leaving you! We came all this way to save you and I'm not leaving," said Taran, his eyes blazing.
"You're bleeding too," said Ahsoka, blood covering almost all his midsection.
"Yours is more serious," said Taran, his hands begin to shake. "I should have thought of finding water after what I saw him do to you. I should have...gotten it...why didn't I...I..I." He was starting to lose words as his hands began to shake uncontrollably. His eye were starting to water as the full realization dawned on him. Ahsoka took his hand in hers, their blood mixing together on their hands. She managed to smile at him while he could only look down on her with sadness and fear.
"I shouldn't have left...the way I did...it was wrong to...tell you...not to look...for me," said Ahsoka, struggling to talk.
"I have to save you," he said, tears threatening to spill out from his eyes. He looked at their joined hands where their blood intermingled with each other. "I love you."
"I do too...even though I...screwed up big time...shouldn't have left...you," said Ahsoka. Taran looked down to the wound one more time, before he looked back at her.
"Please hold on a little longer, for us," said Taran. He took off the blood-soaked cloth and placed his hand on her wound. Ahsoka knew what he was about to do.
"I'm sorry. I won't hurt you like this ever again," said Taran. Ahsoka nodded bracing for the pain. His fingers tensed once before the fire came from both of his hands. Ahsoka's scream, though not that loud due to her present state, filled the cell. They didn't see one of the eyes of the droid begin to glow red.
Lux had broken out of the cell with the others, Taran having left a hole in the cell door unnoticed. They had spent that time helping the others get out before all the cell doors opened. Luckily there were few battle droids patrolling the level, so taking them out was the easy part. Now they were headed up to level 6 to the others. They ha spent that time helping any other clones who happened to be injured or unwell to walk throughout the entire level before they made their move. As they were traveling up to level 6, Lux saw Bruck up ahead.
"Lux! Where's Taran?" said Bruck.
"I don't know. They took him when we were down here, but from the transmission we got from him, he's out somewhere," said Lux.
"No one else has seen him, so where can he be?" said Bruck. He couldn't sense his presence anywhere. Suddenly, they heard a loud bang come from the other end of the hall. The clones in the back raised their weapons as Bruck and Lux got in front of them, their weapons bared. Steps echoed from the hallway, coming closer and closer. Bruck was ready to pounce, before he felt the familiar presence.
"Hold fire," said Bruck. From out of the adjacent hallway walked Taran carrying Ahsoka in his arms bridal style. Ahsoka looked battered, and a part of her back around the shoulder blades was burned. Taran looked almost as bad. Blood covered his midsection through his shirt, and some was still present from his chin to his right lip through the corner. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.
"Taran!" said Lux and Bruck, rushing forward to help.
"What happened?" said Bruck, seeing the condition they were in.
"He sent that torture droid to kill her. I managed to get there before he did, but it both nearly killed us," said Taran. He gently lowered Ahsoka to the ground, his hand under head as she breathed shallowly, her eyes closed. From the front they could see another burn mark on her chest near her collarbone the size of a human hand. Lux and Bruck both looked at him for an answer.
"I had to stop the bleeding," said Taran, showing them the newly burned area under his shirt where he had to burn himself as well.
"That bastard," said Lux.
"Let's get back to everyone else and get out of here," said Taran.
"I'll take her," said Bruck. Taran nodded, gritting his teeth as he stood up whilst Bruck picked her up.
"You sure you don't need help," said Lux.
"I can manage. Everyone else made it?" said Taran.
"So far," said Bruck. "We still don't know if we're going to get backup or not."
"We have to wait. These men have done a lot for us. We're not going to abandon them," said Taran.
(Level 4)
"Is that everyone?" said Tia. Nearly everyone was back in the center of level 4. The newly-freed clones were spread out to make room, their numbers not allowing them to be gathered concentrated in one place. In total, there were 900 clones in the prison to begin with. About 825 were alive.
"So far. Bruck, Lux and Taran haven't arrived yet," said Amis.
"What's the situation outside Byph?" said Tia. Byph had went to peak outside in order to know about the conditions outside the fortress. He replied back in Ithorian. He said there were multiple droids of all kind, including a few crab droids, outside the fortress in the enclosure, all their weapons trained on every inch of the prison. The turbolasers were also pointed their in case any of them tried to escape. In short, it was looking bad.
"Taran's back," said Katooni. Tia looked over to see the three of them, and a few clones come into the center with them. She saw Bruck carrying Ahsoka and her eyes widened in horror at the state she and Taran were in. Bruck placed Ahsoka gently down in the center where R3 was.
"Do you have any water," said Taran, his voice slightly hoarse. Tia nodded, going to her belt and detaching the small canteen. Taran knelt down beside Ahsoka. The little water that was in there he used his heal around her wound before moving to other areas. With what he had, he couldn't heal her completely or half way, but it would help. Ahsoka groaned from the sensation entering her body, opening her eyes to see them all huddled around her.
"You all...came too?" said Ahsoka. She looked at Taran as if questioning why they were here.
"They kind of didn't give me a choice," said Taran, smiling slightly. "No matter how hard I tried."
"You didn't have to...do this for me...you guys," said Ahsoka.
"We couldn't think of doing anything else," said Tia.
"What's the situation outside?" said Taran.
"Not good," said Zatt. "There's turbolasers and droids all around the enclosure."
"And to make matters worse, we still don't know if anyone's coming to get everyone out of here," said Korkie. Suddenly, R3 beeped something and went over to Taran.
"What is it buddy?" said Taran. R3 whistled again and a hologram appeared, showing two figures.
"Taran, what's the situation?" said his uncle, Hue Long, Plo Koon alongside him.
"Every prisoner has been freed in the prison, but we're pinned inside," said Taran.
"Is everyone alright?" said Plo.
"Yes, everyone's fine. We have Ahsoka, but we have to get her medical help fast," said Taran.
"We're in orbit above the planet. Gunships are about to head down to transport you all out," said Plo.
"Until then, stick tight," said Long. At that the clones and everyone else yelled in happiness. They were being rescued. Taran couldn't believe the elation he felt inside him, hearing that his message got through. Suddenly, he thought about the turbolasers. The droids would know if outside help was coming. He didn't want anymore casualties to amount today.
"I'm going outside," said Taran.
"What? You can't be serious," said Bruck.
"When those gunships come down, those turbolasers have the capability of tearing them to pieces. If I distract them, they can be destroyed without any problem," said Taran.
"It's too dangerous by yourself," said Katooni.
"I'll be okay," said Taran, standing up and walking towards the entrance.
"Taran," said Ahsoka. Taran stopped and turned to look at her. Her eyes pleaded with him not go out there, but he shook his head. He smiled at her, and then to them all before his expression turned serious.
"Be ready," he said. He faced the door and opened it. He drew his lightsaber and used his airbending to increase his speed.
"There's one. Open fire!" said a Super battle droid captain. A hail of blaster fire raced towards Taran, who used his airbending to jump over it all. The turbolasers began to train on him, which is what he wanted. He used the air scooter to zip past the droids, dodging all their fire.
"Open fire," said the droid in charge of the turbolaser. The ones in their area started to fire, followed by others. Explosions rocketed the area behind Taran, his air scooter going faster than they could fire, instead tearing apart the droids who unfortunately managed to be in the way. Taran would use his lightsaber to slice through any droids in his path. He navigated the scooter towards one turbolaser, jumping over the twin blasts from it and landing on the turret. The other nearby turrets trained on him and fired, Taran jumping nimbly off. He used his fist to punch the ground as he landed to plow a tunnel through the ground, disappearing.
"Where did he go?" said a battle droid. Suddenly, pillars of earth shot out from blinding speed out of the ground under several droids, catapulting them into the air. Taran emerged from out of the ground behind a Super and his lightsaber plunged straight into its hard drive, shutting it off permanently. He did the same maneuvers again, using the air scooter to draw attention to him. Suddenly, a round from a turbolaser exploded in front of him, sending him skyrocketing back, hitting the ground hard. Dazed and disoriented, he looked to see the remaining turbolasers on the east bloc of the prison all point towards him.
Suddenly, they all began to explode. Taran looked up to see the LAAT gunships escorted by V-wings streak by, unleashing their payloads at the turbolasers and the droids still on the ground. He smiled as the gunships began to land towards the front of the prison where all the turbolasers were destroyed. Plo Koon and squads of clones and Elementian soldiers began to race out, fighting the droids still in the enclosure. Taran ran towards the front towards the gathering gunships. From inside everyone else was heading towards them as well, Bruck, Zatt, Gungi and Lagos helping out any wounded clones they could out towards the ships whilst Lux carried Ahsoka.
Taran made it back to the entrance to help out another wounded clone get towards the ships as well. As the last clones were leaving, several shots fired from inside the prison. Three clones fell to the ground, dead. He looked back to see Preed holding a blaster. His eyes flashed with anger.
"You can run, but you can never forget what we did to her. I took great pleasure in helping her out to near the point of death. So go on Jedi, take your damaged goods back with you," Preed yelled out. At that moment, Taran snapped. He handed over the wounded clone to another one of his brothers and advanced. Preed began firing at Taran but he dodged the first shots before pulling out his lightsaber and blocking the rest.
When he got close enough to Preed, he unleashed a powerful blast of air. Preed couldn't dodge as he shifted to the side. The blast caught him and he hit the edge of the entrance hard. He slumped down to the ground before the earth under him moved and he was catapulted into the air at fifteen feet, landing hard on the ground behind Taran. Taran then preceded to levitate him off the ground before bringing him over him again and crashing him back into the ground face first.
"Taran, stop, we can go!" said Bruck, the others looking back at what was happening.
"Here your friends, get on then," said Preed, blood flowing out of his mouth.
"After everything you did, to Ahsoka and all those men, I'm not letting you live," said Taran, his eyes turning yellow. He slowly walked towards Preed, lightsaber ready. Preed smiled and turned towards him. Taran readied his blade to come down on him.
"KX-13!" yelled Preed. At blinding speed, the droid, still headless, charged out of the entrance and stabbed Taran straight through his still somewhat fresh wound again, taking him out of focus from the massive amount of pain in time for Preed to pull out another hidden blaster and shoot him where his wound previously was. He then shot Taran one more time in the chest. Taran was frozen in place, slowly crumbling to his knees as KX-13 withdrew the scythe-blade out of him.
"Say goodbye Jedi," said Preed.
A lone blaster round shot Preed through the head, followed by two more effectively silencing the torture droid for good.
"That's for my brothers," said Rocket, holding the captured blaster. Long, Bruck, Tia and Plo immediately rushed over to Taran. To their horror, he was unconscious, and he was now losing an alarming amount of blood.
"Get him inside, quick!" said Long.