A Separatist trap!, ever vigilant in his efforts to rescue Jedi master Luminara Unduli from the increasingly dangerous star destroyer, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, along with his padawans Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano, mount a foolhardy plan to board the vessel and secure the Jedi master from the enemies hands.

Chapter 5: It's a Trap!

R2-D2 quietly ran diagnostics on the ship in the corner as Barriss let go of Ahsoka's hand and sank back into her own seat "he's coming".

Seconds later Anakin walked into the cockpit and settled into the pilots seat "you two seem happy, given the circumstances"

Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply but Barriss cut her off "I believe it was you who said it didn't hurt to be optimistic"

Anakin raised an impressed eyebrow "not bad Barriss, not bad at all"

As the T-6 shuttle lifted off the metal docking bay and into the endless vacuum of space Barriss couldn't help but feel a little selfish, she was so preoccupied with herself she had completely forgotten about Luminara's situation 'she'll be fine you know, we'll get her out of there'

Ahsoka's voice was so clear in her head she could have been whispering directly in her ear 'I know Ahsoka, but thank you'.

As the shuttle slowly inched closer to the separatists ship Anakin brought his wrist to his mouth "Rex you read me?"

"loud and clear sir"

"me, Ahsoka and Barriss' will attach as close to the bridge as we can, you and your squad will be starting further to the ships rear, try and keep the droids attention for as long as you can"

"yes sir, good luck"

"you two Rex"

Barriss at back in amazement as she watched her master fly the ship 'he really is an excellent pilot'

Ahsoka glanced in her direction 'give it time, I'm sure he'll find a way to crash us into something' a small laugh was shared between the two padawans but quickly stopped as a sudden lurch forward told them Anakin had docked with the ship. A small round hatch on the floor hissed open just inches from Barriss'' feet, as she stood up Ahsoka and Anakin did the same.

Barriss held the unactivated hilt of her lightsaber in her hand as Anakin led the way through the deserted hallways of the separatists ship, looking around it was clear the ship was on it's last legs. The floor of the halls were splintered with panels jutting up from the ground in every direction making their walk to the bridge take twice as long than it should of, the air was also noticeably thinner than on a functional ship causing any attempt to sneak worthless by their heavy breathing. Anakin stopped as the hallway split into four different directions "damn it I knew we should of brought R2 with us, okay so we came from..." his words stopped just as stream of red lasers illuminated the hallway to their left.

Barriss saw the blue blade of her lightsaber appear just in time to deflect a shot to her head, the group of super battle droids started their advance two by two down the long hallway as both Anakin and Ahsoka activated their lightsabers. Anakin brought his com-link closer as he directed a hail of laser fire back to it's source "Rex any action on your part?"

Rex's voice took a second to answer "just a few stragglers sir, nothing to serious"

"uh huh just as I thought, looks like Dooku's sending the big stuff our way"

"you want us to assist sir"

"that's a negative Rex, I think he wants us to group up to the same position, stick to the plan for now"

"copy that sir" as Anakin focused back on the fight at hand Barriss saw an opening in the laser fire and leaped forward. With a quick swipe of her lightsaber the first droid split into two pieces, before the first droid had time to hit the ground a light push of the force sent her into the air. Landing on top of the droids round top she brought her lightsaber straight down before leaping backwards. A force push from Ahsoka sent the crippled droid back into the next group as Barriss landed lightly on her feet beside her friend.

Just as the last two battle droids hit the floor Anakin moved beside his padawans "impressive Barriss, you too Snips"

Ahsoka deactivated both her lightsabers and clipped them to her side "a little help would have been nice"

Anakin simply shrugged "you two looked like you were having fun, I didn't want to but in"

Barriss forced back a smile as Ahsoka rolled her eyes "that never stopped you before"

"funny Snips, just for that you watch the rear, Barriss take point" Barriss kept her lightsaber active as she turned to the heap of scrap metal that used to be droids, as she led the way Anakin moved the droids out of their way with a wave of his hand. After the adrenaline from the fight wore off Barriss was once again reminded of the thin air when she miss judged a step and fell to her knees, Anakin rushed forward and helped her back to her feet "it's the air isn't it?" all she could do was nod. Anakin looked ahead as he picked up Barriss' lightsaber from the ground and handed it back to her "it's getting to me too, we need to get Luminara and get out as quick as possible"

Barriss did her best to keep the stride of her master as they ran through the seemingly endless mix of hallways, as she rounded a corner a large metal door forced all three Jedi to a halt. Ahsoka put a hand on the door "Dooku's in there"

Barriss nodded "and Luminara, her presence is weak master".

Anakin had already plunged his lightsaber into the door and began cutting a large circle "you two go straight for Luminara and get her out of there, leave Dooku to me"

"master do you think that's a good idea?, this is obviously..." before Ahsoka could finish Anakin gave the freshly cut door a kick and ran through the hole "a trap" the padawan turned to Barriss as she crouched through the door "why do I even try?"

Barriss followed her friend "because one of these days he might actually listen to you"

As her eyes scanned the bridge of the ship Barriss was immediately confused, beside Luminara laying unconscious on the floor nothing was as she had expected "where's Dooku?" Anakin gestured for his padawan to go to Luminara's side as he jumped down to the lower level with his lightsaber drawn. Barriss and Ahsoka knelled beside the Jedi masters limp body, Barriss put a hand on her former masters forehead "she's warm, some serious burns on the arms and chest"

Ahsoka nodded in agreement "no doubt the seppies tortured her, kriffing droids" as the two padawans watched Luminara's chest rise and fall Anakin jumped back up to their level.

The Jedi's com-link was already raised to his mouth "Ularin move the ship as far back as you can without losing sight of us"

Barriss raised an eyebrow as Anakin walked up to her "is there a problem master?"

"well the good news is Dooku isn't here, the bad news is there's a bomb on the bottom of the bridge big enough to bring down the entire ship"

both Barriss and Ahsoka rose to their feet, asking the question in perfect unison "how long?"

"timer said about three minutes".

The sound of blaster fire filled Anakin's com-link "Rex you there!"

"don't know what you did sir but these clankers sure are stirred up!"

"Rex you need to get back to the ship!, there's a bomb on the bridge!"

there was a short pause on the com-link "no need to worry about us, we'll be...soldier watch your flank!. We'll be out of here in no time!"

"double time it Rex, over and out"

Barriss looked down at Luminara "what do we do about master Luminara?"

Anakin knelt down and cautiously wrapped his arms around Luminara's body, after lifting her up bridal style he nodded to the door way "both of you make sure the way is clear, I'll be right behind you" Barriss nodded and began to follow Ahsoka out the door "Barriss wait" she turned just in time to catch Luminara's lightsaber in her free hand "be careful".

Taking off at a sprint down the hallway Barriss activated both lightsabers and let them drag on the floor behind her, the path of twin streams of light making an easy path for Anakin to follow. As she rounded the first corner she saw the remains of a battle droid and couldn't help but smile 'not bad Ahsoka'

'thanks, although I could use some help, ya know if you have the time' as she ran up two the four way split off that had stopped them before she saw what Ahsoka had meant, her friend was pinned down by a entire squad of super battle droids. Taking note this was the only hallway standing between them and the ship Barriss didn't stop beside her friend and ran straight at the droids, bringing a lightsaber up to either side she nimbly slipped in between the droids while letting the weapons do their job. Hitting the floor with her hands halfway through the hallway she pushed herself back into the air and took out the last two droids before her feet hit the ground.

Ahsoka deactivated her two lightsabers "wow...that was...wow" Barriss had to turn away as her face turned bright red but quickly regained her composure as Anakin rounded the corner.

Anakin rested Luminara's body down on a counter close to the back of the ship before climbing into the pilots chair, Ahsoka quickly hopped into the copilots seat while Barriss stayed back beside Luminara. The ship was off and barreling through space before she had time blink, in the pilots chair Anakin activated his com-link "Rex please tell me your at the shuttle!"

"copy that sir, just a few more seconds and we'll out of the blast range" Ahsoka hit a few buttons in front of her "that's great, now can we get out of here"

"patience Snips" a smirk crossed Anakin's face as he pushed the ships controls forward, Barriss had to put a hand on R2's dome to avoid falling over. Before they could get out of range all three Jedi could sense the separatists ship exploding behind them, the explosion caught up and engulfed their ship in a matter of seconds.

Anakin tightened his grip

on the controls "this is gonna be close!" the front view port of the ship became clouded in red smoke "really close!". Barriss felt the metal under her boots grow hotter and hotter as the seconds rolled by, she wrapped her hand into master Luminara's as she was sure the flames were enveloping the ship.

With a confident yell Anakin put one more thrust into the controls "yaaa! Hooo!" the flames disappeared from the view port as quickly as they had appeared and Barriss felt the temperature in the ship return to normal. Slowing the ship to a regular pace Anakin leaned back in his seat "too close".

Barriss sat in the medical area of the Jedi cruiser transfixed on the image of Luminara floating in a large bacti-tank, this wasn't the strong confident woman she had gladly served under. Stripped of her usual black robe the medical droids had left her with just enough rags to preserve her modesty and her usually contained black hair fell to her shoulders.

As she tried to block the sight of Luminara's damaged body from her mind a cold hand touched her shoulder "Luminara's strong, she'll be fine"

Barriss didn't need to turn to know Anakin now stood behind her "I know she will"

"then whats troubling you?, is it the force meld?"

"master I know I felt the Dooku's presence on the bridge of that ship and yet...the only other living thing on there master Luminara"

Anakin took a few steps around Barriss and sat down beside her "I'll admit I don't know much about a force meld but perhaps your senses were so in tuned you could feel Dooku's presence even after he had left the ship"

"you really think so?"

"it's the only explanation I can think of, now come on, lets go get some rest. According to the medical droid Luminara should be back on her feet by the time we reach Corusant"

"of course master".

By the time Barriss made her way to the sleeping quarters of the ship Anakin was already asleep in one of the beds, Ahsoka sat cross legged in front of the large window at the end of the room. After taking a few steps into the room Ahsoka's thoughts began to buzz through her head '...this is just a phase, I'm confused is all. Come on pull yourself together, you can't be...'

"can't be what?" her words caused Ahsoka's thoughts to stop abruptly.

The young Togruta was on her feet in seconds "Barriss!, I was just..."

Barriss brought a finger to her lips "shh" she nodded in Anakin's direction 'just think it'.

Ahsoka walked over to the closest bed and sat down 'fine, I was just thinking about us'

Barriss wanted to sit beside her friend but found her feet unwilling to move from the middle of the room 'what about us?'

'Barriss no more beating around the bush, if we can't talk about this openly then we shouldn't talk at all. You have feelings for me right?'.

Now Barriss had to sit down, after moving to the same bed as Ahsoka she sat down 'Ahsoka these past few days have been the best and worst of my life'

'oh, well thanks' Barriss felt her heart sink 'okay maybe I worded that wrong, all I mean is...these feelings are the best thing that's ever happened to me, but figuring out what they were was the hardest thing I've ever done'

Ahsoka looked down at the floor 'so you know what they mean'

Barriss placed a slightly shaking hand on her friends chin and slowly lifted Ahsoka's face to meet her own 'all I know is I care about you'. Barriss could feel Ahsoka's breath blow against her face as she inched closer, her heart skipped a beat as she took in the reality of the situation and leaned in herself.

Time slowed as their faces were just inches away from one another, both girls stared directly into the others eyes "no, no we can't do this" Ahsoka was off the bed in seconds leaving Barriss with her lips parted for the air.

Barriss stood up and did her best to keep the unease from her voice "I'm sorry" Ahsoka started for the door "Ahsoka wait!"

the words stopped the girl in her tracks but she kept her eyes on the door "what"

"we can't just ignore this" Ahsoka spun around and faced her friend "Barriss listen to yourself!, this isn't you, your talking about breaking the Jedi code!"

"you don't think I know that!, Ahsoka this scares me like nothing else ever has!" both heads turned as Anakin shifted in his bed, after a few moments of silence Barriss turned back her friend 'this is by far the scariest thing I've ever had to face but we have to talk about it, these feelings won't just disappear'

'but we're Jedi, it's our job to put feelings like this aside for the good of the galaxy'

'do you think you can?'

Ahsoka turned away 'whether I can or not doesn't matter, we have too'

Barriss put a hand on her friends shoulder 'I don't think I can, Ahsoka after these past few days, the thought of being without you...I can't breath'.

For a moment Barriss thought her friend was going to once again head for the door but instead Ahsoka turned back around 'this is too much' tears ran a small stream down the padawans face 'I just...I don't' Barriss was at a loss for words, all she could think to do was lead her friend back to her bed. Ahsoka laid down without a word and only flinched slightly when Barriss placed a thin blanket over her body.

Without thinking Barriss leaned down and lightly kissed the back of her friends head 'get some sleep, we'll talk later'.

Ahsoka pulled the blanket tighter around her body 'thank you Barriss'.