CHAPTER 26: ANAKIN SKYWALKER

Coruscant

Anakin had felt intense pain and distress, so powerful that he had gasped in the middle of dinner with Padmé. Before Padmé could even finish asking him where he was going, he was sprinting out the door as quickly as he could, hopping into a Temple speeder, and flying across the Federal District in the general direction he sensed Ahsoka's presence.

With the curfew in place due to the impending Separatist attack, the skylanes were eerily empty. Only non-essential traffic was permitted to fly. For this reason, in the night sky, it did not take him long to spot the flashing lights of an ambulance escorted by five Coruscant police cruisers.

"THIS IS AN EMERGENCY TRAFFIC LANE AND WE ARE UNDER CURFEW! CITIZEN, VACATE THIS AREA OR I WILL PLACE YOU UNDER ARREST!" bellowed a Clone voice over a police loudhailer.

Keeping pressure on the throttle, Anakin hovered meters behind the convoy, gritting his teeth as he used the Force to amplify his voice. "THIS IS GENERAL SKYWALKER! I AM ORDERING YOU TO REDIRECT YOUR PATIENT TO THE JEDI TEMPLE HOSPITAL!"

"General Skywalker?!" the voice yelled, though at a lower volume than before. "What is your authorization code?"

"Nine Aurek Aurek Four Delta Wesk," Anakin added, then turned hard to port, cutting across the skylane diagonally towards the Jedi Temple restricted airspace. "Follow me!"

"Apologies, General Skywalker," the voice over the loudhailer said with uncertainty. Without further protest, the convoy changed directions, forming up on Anakin's airspeeder.

o.o.o.o.o

Lir Sey'les

Ponemah Terminal

Sey'les woke up to distorted thoughts and conversations occurring in the distance.

"Yes, this is it," a Clone voice said. "This is the chip that will turn us on the Jedi. We need to tell Master Skywalker immediately."

"I still don't understand," Kelia said. "What makes you absolutely certain this chip will make you target the Jedi?"

"He's right," Sey'les croaked groggily. Her mouth felt dry and her voice was hoarse, as if she had been screaming.

With what felt like tremendous effort, she opened her eyes. Kev and Ekos were laying down in individual beds adjacent to hers, with their mattresses elevated to seated position. Even through the sheets, she could see their legs were clearly gone. Mornsted, Kelia, Jural, a medical droid, and a Clone Sey'les presumed from his Separatist prisoner attire was Kix, stood around the unconscious body of another Clone. Morai was alighted on top of a medical computer.

{"You have rejoined the ranks of the conscious,"} Morai's voice echoed soothingly in her mind.

"You have rejoined the ranks of the living," said the Mon Calamari doctor standing to her right.

Sey'les frowned. She knew the Mon Calamari couldn't hear Morai, but being bombarded with repetitive and un-funny commentary in her state was indescribably annoying. "Could I get a water?" she whispered, holding out her hand as Iven began scanning her.

"Life signs appear normal for a Bothan," he muttered.

Mornsted left Kelia's side and began walking towards her bed. "Sey'les, I am glad you're alright."

Upon being given a tiny flimsiplast cup, Sey'les gulped down the water in one sip. "What happened?"

"You fainted and we medevac'd you to the Kestrel, with Kev and Ekos. We rescued Kix, and he told the commodore a few things and then had us dig into Perth's brain for a device he calls an inhibitor chip—"

"I didn't 'faint' sir," Sey'les growled cautiously, "It's something you Prophets did to me." She pursed her lips, pointing them at Morai.

{"I don't know what happened between you and Veryk—"}

"Ahsoka is dead," she interrupted firmly, almost certain that is what she had just experienced. "That's why I passed out."

Morai's voice took on a tragic tone of loss and sadness. {"Oh dear! Show me."} She fluttered over Sey'les's bed, landing on her chest.

"Later maybe," Sey'les gulped. While Veryk had trained her in a few Force tricks, Sey'les had never been trained in how to share memories. Nor did she want to relive this one. But the thought of Ahsoka's death made her gasp, fur falling flat in a horrific realization.

"How do you know?" Kev growled in a small voice. "How do you know Ahsoka died?"

"While I'm sorry for the loss of another Jedi, why is this relevant?" Kelia said as she walked over to the group with Kix, turning to face the Clone. "Medical Trooper Kix has informed us of a great deal regarding the chips and their purpose, what we need to do now is formulate a plan to-"

"IT WAS THROUGH THE KRIFFING FORCE. KEV YOU KRIFFING—UGH! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, COMMODORE!" Sey'les turned to Kelia, stifling her furious scream. Gulping, she took in a deep breath. "Ahsoka Tano was trying to stop the inhibitor chips from being activated. Halfdan and Morai did not tell you this because you didn't need to know. She's been killed. I just felt her die, however long ago it was that I 'fainted.' This means Chancellor Sheev Palpatine knows that she knows, which means he knows that others know. Which means—Shit, my mouth's dry," she whispered, having gone completely hoarse. "Can I please have a bigger glass of water, sir."

Kelia swore violently in Mando'a as she walked across the sickbay, flicking the intercom button.

For a brief moment, Sey'les feared that the Commodore might call her ship's security and have them haul her to the brig. She winced, looking worriedly to Morai.

"This is Commodore Los'ean to bridge, send the following message to all vessels. 'Set course for sector zero zero zero. We jump to hyperspace in three minutes. Sound level two combat alert. Ignore any transmissions from Coruscant.' That is all."

o.o.o.o.o

Anakin Skywalker

Coruscant

"There's no antidote for any of the compounds," Rig Nema said matter-of-factly.

"So she's just going to die," Anakin croaked, dark circles under his eyes.

When Ahsoka's bacta tank became opaque, Anakin had been ushered out of the medbay in a state of near melt-down. He had spent the next five hours sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the waiting room. Rig Nema had finally let him back in to see Ahsoka, only to tell him this.

Anakin felt completely nothing but hopeless exhaustion as monitors beeped and medical droids shuffled around, analyzing readouts and adjusting life support gear, Ahsoka floating in a tank full of transparent liquid.

But Rig Nema raised her eyebrows for a moment in confusion, then replied in a tone like she was explaining medicine to a child. "No, it doesn't mean Ahsoka Tano will die. It just means we can't break down the toxins in her body. Antidotes counteract poisons, but the body can also work like a filter. If the poison doesn't break your kidney and liver fast enough, the body will slowly filter it out. With the help of Kolto and blood transfusions, her body is filtering the toxins and recovering. Just because there is no antidote does not mean someone who gets poison in their blood dies—"

"Okay, okay," Anakin hissed, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes. "Is Ahsoka going to die?"

"She is very strong with the Force, and she's getting the best care the Jedi Order has to offer. I can't promise anything, but—"

"I am one hundred percent certain she's going to live, Lord Jedi doctor," interrupted the gravelly voice of a creature standing behind Ahsoka's transparisteel tank. Anakin nearly recoiled in surprise when the being stepped out from behind.

He was perhaps 1.6 meters tall, had hairless brown skin with blue-grey spots, and black eyes on the side of his head, which looked wet and innocent as opposed to menacing in the way many pure black eyes did. At the tip of his flat snout were floppy mustache-like feelers, which had evolved to nab crustaceans and small fish hiding in the muddy ocean bottom. He was a Selkath.

"Oh, I'd almost forgotten," Rig Nema muttered. "Meet doctor Jathos Kreska, the medical attaché of the Manaan embassy."

Anakin blinked incredulously, unsure what Manaan had to do with Ahsoka, and angry that this being dared to contradict Rig Nema—dared to inject unwarranted hope into the situation.

Rig Nema gestured to Anakin's left, pointing at the first bacta tank the Togruta had been submerged in. "All four of the compounds Ahsoka was exposed to reacted the moment she was put in the bacta tank, destroying the bacta. It's like nothing I've ever seen before, and I have analyzed tainted batches of bacta."

"But her body filtered it?" Anakin asked, failing to grasp the significance of Nema's statement.

"Not without help," Jathos said haughtily as he looked up at the feed lines for the medical tank that trunked into the ceiling and wall. "Thanks to our kolto, this Jedi was saved. Without kolto's healing effects, she would have died hours ago. Over sixty percent of her damaged blood vessels have healed, and she is almost ready to be removed and awakened."

"Sixty percent?" Rig Nema walked briskly behind the medical tank, scrutinizing the status terminal as the MD-series medical droid monitoring it stepped aside.

"As I said, thanks to our kolto, which is far superior to bacta in this use-case, I am one hundred percent certain Ahsoka Tano will survive these toxins."

"In this one use-case," Rig Nema retorted. "Centuries of studies are clear. In all others, bacta is far…" She trailed off, mouth agape in astonishment.

Anakin wrapped his arms around Jathos, squeezing the Selkath in a tight hug. With everything that was going on, Anakin was beyond grateful for some good news. He risked a look over the diminutive Selkath's head, directly at Ahsoka Tano.

She was floating in the kolto tank, wounds visible all over her neck and lekku. Her skin was discolored, and looked like she had aged fifteen years underneath her breath mask. But she was going to live.

Jathos squirmed in protestation. "Lord Jedi, you are squeezing my—"

Salt water sprayed into Anakin's face from a humidifying pouch in the Selkath's vest, squirting right into his eyes, already reddened from a restless night.

"Blast! I am sorry," Anakin stammered, releasing the Selkath and wiping off his face. His eyes were still smarting, streaming tears, when the comlink on his belt buzzed. The Jedi glanced at his datapad, seeing six missed communiques, all from Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Alarm klaxons rang and there were footfalls thumping down the hall, from Jedi and Temple Security volunteers alike. For a brief second, Anakin wondered what was going on, then remembered.

The Separatists were invading Coruscant. He was supposed to be leading the 501st, with Ahsoka at his side.

Ahsoka had an excuse. He did not.

"Holy shit."