Chapter XXXIII
If she moves, she's dead. Shila doesn't dare to drop her knee as she crouches behind a large bush, she can see the shiny black boots and shin guards of a Death Trooper through the web of twigs and large leafs. She can only hope that the brush is so thick the trooper won't be able to see her through the night vision in his helmet.
A rustling comes from behind her, it can't be the others, they are all hiding out as she is. She slowly turns her head, trying to draw attention, to see where the noise came from. Through the corner of her eye, she sees three Stormtroopers tromping through the brush. One of them looks over in her direction, she can only hope the bush's shadow is enough to conceal her.
It's not.
"Freeze!" the trooper orders her.
From behind a tree - behind the Stormtroopers - Zallar jumps out to assault the troopers. He grabs one of the troopers from the back of the head and smashes him face first into the tree.
"Look out! Wookie!" one of them yells.
Zallar grabs the other two troopers by the head and slams their helmets together. The troopers fall to the ground, unconscious - or otherwise.
Shila looks up and sees the barrel of the Death Troopers blaster hovering over the bush. He's going to kill Zallar. Shila jumps out from behind the bush with her blaster aimed for the troopers armor plated chest, when she is suddenly taken by surprise to watch the trooper fall to ground from a blunt force blow to the head. The trooper groans through the helmets voice dilators as he lands in the bush.
In the Death Troopers place, stands the silhouette of a woman. No, not necessarily a woman, but by her height, she's likely a teenager. Shila can't make out any facial features, however by the light of the moon over the canopy, she can just barely make out her locks of her red hair. She's well built as Shila can tell, and her weapon in hand appears to be a long staff.
Shila can't think of anything to say other than "thank you", and before she can ask her who she is, the mystery woman or girl runs off further into the jungle and out of sight.
Zallar walks up behind Shila and helps her up.
"Can you believe those Imp's?" he laughs in his garbled Basic, "They thought I was a Wookie!"
Shila shrugs off the mystery rescuer for the moment and turns her attention back to Zallar.
"Yeah, what were they thinking?" she says sarcastically, "Wookie's smell a lot better."
Zallar groans a little.
"Now come on," Shila continues, "there are still more Stormtroopers out here, and we need to find the others. Our objective is to find them and transmit….Ahsoka's message." Saying Ashla's real name feels strange to Shila, she's starting to rethink her judgement of Ahsoka, even though she is confident she's not a spy for the Empire. Still, if she is a spy, then a spy for who?
Ahsoka found her way out of the temple and onto a path that runs alongside of the mountain. The plateau can be seen far below, the fire that burned the freighters debris has died down into smoldering embers and charred metal. Ahsoka's not sure where this path leads, but she trusts her instincts will lead her back to her friends.
She looks down at her wounded leg, the upside to being injured by a lightsaber is that the blade cauterizes the wound. However, it doesn't help much with the pain. Her back hurts from the several times Titus threw her into the wall, through a door, and across the floor. The bloodied cut on her head has dried, but it's likely infected. She wonders which of her bones are fractured and which are broken. A few hours in a bacta tank will serve her well.
Ahsoka stops along the path. Something feels off.
She turns around to find one of the Imperial insurgents she saw entering the Temple, a Pau'an with golden eyes. Ahsoka looks over her shoulder to see another insurgent, this one a female, a Mirialan like Barriss Offee.
"You're a tough one to find, Ahsoka Tano." the Mirialan sinisterly says.
Ahsoka opens her lightsabers seeing no sense in hiding her secret, they know who she is.
"Who are you?" Ahsoka demands.
The Pau'an laughs, "You've encountered our ranks before. We are the Inquisitors, special agents of the Emperor and Lord Vader. Tasked to destroy what remains of the Jedi Order. Since your aid in the uprising on Raada and your killing of the Sixth Brother, we've been keeping a close eye on the galaxy for when you would resurface. And that, was on Thakwaa."
Ahsoka glares at the Grand Inquisitor, "Then I will handle you just as I did the Sixth Brother."
The Grand Inquisitor laughs again, "You underestimate the power of the Inquisitors."
The Grand Inquisitor and Seventh Sister open their lightsabers. Ahsoka can sense the Seventh Sister charging her from behind. She swings around and counters her opponents blow before roundhouse kicking her square in the back. The impact throws the Inquisitor forward and into her master.
The Grand Inquisitor growls as he shoves the Seventh Sister aside.
Ahsoka looks briefly at the Inquisitors before turning to run along the path and further up the mountain, hoping she can outrun them. She doesn't have the strength to fight them.