Author's Note: Here's chapter 6...Thank you for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of its characters.
~~*~*~*~~
"No..." She whispered.
Ahsoka woke up from her peaceful oblivion of unconscious to see something entirely unexpected.
She had been left strapped to the wall, her neck was stiff from the angle at which her head had hung when she had fallen unconscious from the torture. Ahsoka lifted her head slowly, painfully, hearing the creak of her bones as she did so. She was exhausted, and as she managed to roll her head upright, she froze as she came face to face with someone she instantly recognized. Someone she hadn't seen in a long time.
Cody.
His eyes had rolled back into his head and his face was a sickly gray color. Ahsoka wrinkled her nose to block the terrible stench that came from him as her mind became aware of another thing.
His head had been separated from his body.
Her mouth snapped open in shock, her eyes bulged. It was just sitting there, on the metal table in front of her, a pool of blood forming around it.
Ahsoka didn't believe it at first. He had always been able to survive within the Empire. No, not Cody! Her mind screamed.
He had been found out, it seemed. Ahsoka had known of his guilt about the Empire from Rex. Shortly after Order 66 had taken place, Cody had contacted Rex several times before he cut off communication from them entirely. He hadn't been strong enough to resist what had been etched in his mind for his entire life: to obey orders. He had known what he did was wrong, and the war he fought for the Empire was a tainted victory. To have the corpses of Jedi whom he had once served under lay at his feet reminded him of memories from the past that were hollow now.
He had given Rex and Ahsoka some indication of his displeasure with the Empire when he had contacted them that night so long ago.
Was it only a couple months ago? Ahsoka wondered faintly. It had felt like years.
He and Rex had been such good friends during the Clone Wars. Obi-Wan had praised Cody's work and thought so well of him. And now he was dead.
He was dead.
Ahsoka hadn't even felt the tears that welled up in her eyes. She felt broken, defeated. The room was dark besides the single light that shined in the middle of the room, lighting up Cody's face with horrific shadows. She let her head hang down again to release the strain that it gave her to keep it raised.
She felt a sob start to rise out of her throat, and as she struggled to repress the sound, the door suddenly hissed open, letting in a stream of light. The silhouette within the doorway was intimidating and immediately arrested her attention.
The mechanical hiss was what gave him away. As Darth Vader stepped into the room, Ahsoka sensed the dark, electrical feel of the dark side surround and envelop the room.
Darth Vader motioned to the head that rested on the table. "I see you have woken long enough to see this."
Summoning up the strength to speak loud enough, she looked him in the eye and whispered back to him harshly, "What do you want?" Her voice was exasperated.
"There is someone aboard this vessel that may interest you. Your captain has managed to make it onto this ship." He spoke calmly to her.
Ahsoka face lifted toward him, her face suddenly lighting up with hope.
"But only by my consent. I have let him come aboard for a reason." He paused for a moment, only his breathing breaking the silence. "I have been patient with you, Tano. More than I was with the...others. I'm starting to lose that patience, however. So here is one last consideration for you: Surrender to us... or your captain may end up looking like this." His hand swept toward Cody's head to emphasize his point, as he turned on his heel and strode away, the clanking on his feet echoing off the metal floor.
The door shut, once again filling the room with darkness.
Ahsoka felt her face twist with anger as she thought about his words. How dare he! He thinks he can win me over with threats?! She fumed, her eyes filling with tears of anger. He tells me that Rex is here and expects me to give up now?
Ahsoka looked at her surroundings as a new defiance grew within in her.
"No", she said softly to herself. "I won't be your prisoner any longer."
~~*~*~*~~
This time when the two guards came in and took off her restraints to drag her limp body back to the cell, Ahsoka was conscious. While the pain was usually too much for her, she forced herself to remain awake as she felt her body crash to ground when they took off the restraints and as her body scraped against the floor as they dragged her body by her feet.
"This one won't last much longer," One of them spoke up.
"I don't know. They've been giving her a real beating, but she looks like she might make another week or two," The other responded.
The first one laughed. "Come on, really? So she's been lucky lasting it out this far, but she's half dead already!"
The other trooper titled his head as though he was going to respond, but suddenly both their E-11 blaster rifles were snapped out of their hands and flung backward.
They both simultaneously turned their heads to see a togruta with a rifle in each hand, aimed directly at the stormtroopers.
"Oh, kr—!" Was the last sound that escaped the first guard's mouth. In less than a second, both their bodies crumpled to the floor, the slightest remnant of smoke rising from the corpses.
"Half-dead, indeed," Ahsoka scoffed as she gently rose up from the floor. She dusted herself off before regaining her grip on the weapons and walking calmly out the door.
Ducking into an empty hallway, she rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes. Rex...Rex is here, she thought happily. Placing one of the rifles gently on the floor, she held out her hand and concentrated. She stretched out throughout the ship, feeling every life form, feeling the life in everything that existed around her. Every movement, the smallest life form that scurried about, the breath that left the chest of every soldier aboard. Then she sensed him. He was worried about her, the anxiety was coming off in waves. He was near—only two levels below.
In Ahsoka's excitement she ran to the end of the hall and skidded as she came to a halt. The turbolift was down the next corridor, and as she rushed to make it there, she forgot to be silent. The voices of a stormtrooper patrol suddenly came from around the corner.
"Hey, what's going on down here?" The voice alerted her.
As they came around to confront the noise, she cocked her rifle and fired at the first sign of white armor that she saw.
The screeching sound of the blaster shot echoed off the corridor walls as sparks flew from the trooper's armor where he had been hit.
"Get down!" The three other soldiers behind him ducked and scrambled up against the walls.
Ahsoka smiled to herself. Stretching out her hand, she pulled the closest trooper right towards her with the Force, the man's arms flailing about as he tried to shoot at her. The bolts ricocheted past her as she brought him close to her and then lashed out her leg at his head. He immediately crumpled at the attack, and she carefully used the floating body as a shield against the blaster bolts that flew towards her.
Maneuvering herself behind a stack of boxes, she let the body fall to the ground. Balancing her rifle on the top of boxes, she carefully lined the remaining two soldiers in her sights. Taking them out swiftly, she stood up and edged along the side of the wall to see if there were any more soldiers coming that way. After several moments of silence, she continued down her previous path with more caution, the unconscious bodies left behind the only evidence she had ever walked there.
Walking quickly, her eyes darted to all the corners and intersects of the hallway, searching for movement. Reaching the end of the corridor, she glided into the turbolift and immediately felt its movement as the lift dropped.
This is it, she thought as the turbolift came to a stop at its designated level. This is my chance.
The door slid open, letting her back out into a hallway intersection. She glanced to the left and the right before stepping outside and crossing the hallway to walk forward into the next one. It was so silent that she felt like every movement she made was loud enough to wake a sleeping rancor. The crisscross and intersections of corridors was like a maze—Ahsoka forced herself to remember the pattern she was following as she came to each turn. Every time she heard footsteps clanking against the hard floor she would duck into another hallway to wait for them to pass.
Ahsoka's carefulness paid off and she didn't run into any more trouble. That is, until she swiveled to the left corridor at the next turn and came face to face with the barrel of a blaster.
"Don't move!" The voice that reached her ears was oddly familiar. No...she knew that voice.
Turning her head to look past the weapon at the face that held it, she breathed out a sigh of relief and felt her body start to collapse as the stress and pain of the last months caught up to her.
"Rex." Instantly she felt a strong arm wrap around her waist to support her weight and hold her upright.
"Rex," Ahsoka whispered again, not believing her own words. He grinned at her and leaned down to gently place his lips against hers. Raising her hand, she slid it around his neck and drew him in closer. She had missed him...his voice, his scent, his constant presence.
After several seconds, which was too short for Ahsoka's liking, she gently pulled her lips away and looked at him.
"I missed you," she spoke tenderly. "Are you alright?"
"I should be asking you that," he responded gruffly. "But I'm fine."
The weariness in his face and the circles under his eyes betrayed his words, and while she didn't broach the subject, she raised her eyebrow to show him that she didn't believe him.
Ignoring her stare, he brought his hands to hold her arms, accidentally brushing over an old wound as he did so. Ahsoka flinched at the contact and Rex's brow furrowed in worry. He lifted her arm to look at the blood-stained skin and large scabs that lay there.
"Force...what did they do to you?!"His face quickly turned to an expression of anger.
Ahsoka looked shyly away, embarrassed at her injury. "Not now, Rex."
"No! What did they do to you!?" He raised his voice, his grip on her remaining firm.
A muffled "Did you hear that?" suddenly came from several corridors down, concluding Ahsoka and Rex's conversation.
"We need to move," Ahsoka's whispered harshly.
Rex's gaze fell to the direction from which the voice had come from. "I came from the hangar bay. Follow me."
Gripping her hand, he swiveled around and headed towards the opposite direction from which he came. Keeping Ahsoka close to him, they swiftly maneuvered through the hallways and had just come to the hangar bay entrance when the floor suddenly shook and they were both thrown to the ground.
A resounding rumble vibrated through the The Executor as several more quakes followed the first. Realization dawned upon them as Ahsoka voiced both their thoughts: "Sithspit! We're under attack!"
Helping Ahsoka to her feet, Rex gave her a weary smile. "Ready to get out of here?"