Just in case some of you are confused, when I use Starkiller, it is third person from Ahsoka's view. If I use Galen, you can figure it out. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Judgment
Galen Marek looked down at the defeated Sith Lord, Darth Tyranus. In his left hand, he held his aqua-blue lightsaber. In his right hand, he held Dooku's blood-red lightsaber. Both were held in a scissor formation to his throat.
"Kill him. Kill him now."
The Chancellor's words echoed through his mind. He stared at Dooku, struggling with himself to find an answer. Suddenly, he felt two more presences enter the room. From one of the elevators, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi entered the observation deck, seeing the young Jedi holding Dooku. Galen glanced their way for a second before resuming his attention to Dooku again. Again, he could not figure out what to do. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was not startled. It was Ahsoka. Her presence calmed him slightly.
"Don't kill him. It's not the Jedi way."
Despite his better judgment, he did not release Dooku from the scissor formation. He was still having second thoughts. What was the right decision? Now, for the first time in his life, he was debating whether to kill his opponent. If he was a Sith, he would have struck without hesitation or mercy, but he was a Jedi now, but wasn't it the goal of the Jedi to destroy the Sith and bring peace to the galaxy? Was following the Code more important than destroying the Sith?
"He's beaten," Ahsoka said more forcefully. "Let it go."
For a second, Galen turned his eyes to the two Jedi approaching the scene with looks of uncertainty. Realizing that they would not offer a solution, he turned to face Dooku again. The Sith Lord was a little more than surprised. He looked frightened. Suddenly, he pitied the Sith.
Using the light side to calm and his willpower to calm himself, he deactivated both lightsabers and lowered his hands.
"You are my prisoner. You will be taken to Coruscant for questioning and be put on trials for crimes against the Republic."
Anakin and Obi-Wan moved to either side of Dooku and held him still. Galen turned his attention to the Chancellor. Even without speaking, he could see the poison in his eyes, and he could feel the dark side strongly. A pity the Jedi could not sense his presence or his dark energy. Using the force, Galen deactivated the bonds that held the Chancellor's hands to the arm rests.
"The Senate may debate about what to do with Dooku," Palpatine said. "Sparing him could prove to be more of a nuisance than it is worth."
"Understandable," Galen replied. "But it's not the Jedi way to kill, and I will uphold the Code."
He turned to Anakin and Obi-Wan.
"Secure him. He cannot be allowed to escape."
"There's still the matter of Grievous," Obi-Wan said. "Once he finds out what has occurred here more droids will arrive."
Galen had not forgotten that this was the ship of General Grievous. PROXY had briefed him based on the cyborg. He was a lightsaber duelist as well, capable of wielding up to four lightsabers. He was good, but he could be outsmarted. Galen wasn't really concerned about himself. He was worried about Ahsoka. Despite the training he had been doing with her, she still had much to learn.
"I will deal with Grievous. You should secure Dooku. Make sure he does not escape."
Quickly securing the Sith Lord, Anakin and Obi-Wan, along with the Chancellor made their way to the elevator. Starkiller and Ahsoka stood, watching them attempting to activate the elevator. The sound of turbo lasers brought them both to watch a Republic Venator-class Star Destroyer engaged in a point-black range battle with the Invisible Hand. Even though they were nowhere near a gunning room, the sounds of explosions could be heard. Starkiller began to run for the open elevator. Ahsoka followed by. Then, without warning, the ship began to "fall". The ship was becoming vertical. Starkiller dug his hands and feet into the floor to prevent himself from falling to glass below. Ahsoka did the same, but considering the floor was generally smooth, getting a grip was difficulty. She could see Anakin and Obi-Wan struggling to get into the elevator shaft while keeping track of Dooku. The Chancellor could also be seen struggling to get into the elevator. Anakin turned to see Starkiller and Ahsoka climbing to the open elevator door. He hesitated.
"Go," Starkiller shouted. "Get Dooku off the ship. We'll be okay."
Ahsoka saw a slight nod from Anakin and then, he was gone. When she returned her focus to Starkiller, he was slowly climbing to the door. Quickly returning to reality, she began to climb as well. All the while, loose debris and anything that wasn't secure fell to the glass below. Ahsoka had to use the force to prevent a few from crushing her or sending her to the bottom.
Starkiller had grabbed the edge of the door entrance and pulled himself up with little effort. Once in the elevator shaft, he crouched at the edge, waiting for Ahsoka. Once she was within arm distance, he reached a hand out to Ahsoka. For a moment, Ahsoka just looked at it, then she took it. She was surprised at Starkiller's strength. He lifted her into the elevator shaft with little effort. Once her feet hit the "ground", Starkiller motioned for her to follow him. For a few seconds, they ran down the shaft, but only for a few seconds. Soon, the ship began to level out. Starkiller and Ahsoka found themselves sliding, desperately trying to grab something to stop their descent. Starkiller was barely able to grab onto a power cable. With only a second to catch Ahsoka, he reached a hand out. Ahsoka saw what he was doing and grabbed his hand. The world stopped moving. Ahsoka looked down, not seeing Anakin, Ob-Wan, or the Chancellor anywhere down below. She felt herself being lifted up.
"Grab onto a cable," Starkiller said.
With one hand, Ahsoka grabbed onto a cable above.
As Ahsoka grabbed onto a cable, Galen felt awkward. She was very close to him, something he wasn't sure how to react to. With great effort, he forced himself to ignore the proximity between them and focus on getting out of this situation. Looking down, he saw an open door. If they timed the jump right, they could land in the hallway. Hearing a noise, he turned to look up. The elevator could be seen approaching rapidly.
"Um, you got a plan, Starguy?"
Thinking quickly, he grabbed her hand with his free hand.
"Let go of the cable," he said quickly.
"What, are you crazy?"
"Just trust me."
For a split second, Ahsoka was still unsure. What was he doing? Then, her doubt dissolved. Starkiller was many things, but he wasn't stupid. Everything he did had some thought to it. Starkiller let go of the cable, and she did the same. They fell a few meters. Then, Ahsoka felt herself rush a few meters and fell the ground on her stomach. She looked around. They were in yet another hallway. Behind her, the elevator continued to descend rapidly and passed by them. Starkiller had used force speed to get them into the hallway before the elevator hit them.
Starkiller rose to his feet as well.
"We should get moving."
"What about Master Skywalker and Master Kenobi?"
"They can handle themselves. We've got a general to stop."
A battle droid approached Grievous.
"General, the situation has complicated. There are four Jedi on the ship. Two have subdued Dooku and are attempting to flee. Two are heading here."
Grievous gave a cough and an annoyed growl.
"Activate the ray shields around the two approaching the bridge. Send more droids to the other two. Do not let them escape with Dooku."
Ahsoka followed Starkiller around the corridors. She was a bit surprised that Starkiller could find his way without a map of any kind. He seemed to just know where to go.
A shield abruptly surrounded them. They stopped dead in their tracks. Ahsoka recognized the ray shield. She immediately turned to Starkiller, who scowled in annoyance. He then activated his comm.
"Master Skywalker, we're trapped in a ray shield. What's you status?"
"We're being pursued by droids. We'll barely make it to an extraction team. We can't send any support. You two are on your own."
"Acknowledged. Starkiller out."
He turned to face her.
"Well, you heard him. We'll just have to wait for whoever wants us."
Ahsoka nodded her head.
"You sure there's no way out?"
"I can't deactivate the ray shield from here. And there's no one coming to help us. We'll have to wait."
Moments later, droids began to pile into the room, surrounding them. Galen took his lightsaber from his belt and placed it on the floor. Ahsoka watched him do so, and then did the same. As soon as the ray shield winked out of existence, Galen let out a force push in all directions. The droids, being unprepared for this, hit the wall and deactivated. Ahsoka grabbed her lightsaber with the force and activated it to deflect blaster fire coming from down the hall. Galen grabbed his saber and threw it, slicing several more droids. Ahsoka continued to deflect and reflect blaster fire. As his lightsaber returned to him, Galen turned around to see more droids entering. He sent a wave of force lightning at them, instantly deactivating and destroying them. Behind him, he saw Ahsoka charging forward, using Shien to slice through the droids with ease while deflecting and reflecting bolts. She then switched to Ataru, using her agility and speed to her advantage. Despite the droids falling, more were taking their place. Ahsoka was far down the hall; she would not be able to help him. As the droid fire increased, he found himself using Shien more intensely. He then began to gather his energies and focus it into releasing a force repulse.
Down the hall, Ahsoka could see Starkiller struggling with the droids crowding around him. As she continued to cut down the last droid in her vicinity, she suddenly saw a flash of energy. All the droids surrounding him were thrown into the walls, shattering to pieces. He landed on the ground, with a few burns on his attire (Galen/Starkiller is wearing the Corellian flight suit). For a moment, she struggled to think about what he had just done, but not for long. Ahsoka realized that Starkiller had just used a force repulse, a force technique that was used by only more powerful force users. Usually, force repulse required a large portion of force energy to use, and sometimes left users drained and exhausted, but Starkiller appeared to be fine, with only the slightest sign of fatigue on his face.
She rushed to him to check on him.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"You're just full of surprises."
"One day, you will be able to do the same."
Before she could comment on that, Droidekas began to surround them. For a second, Galen and Ahsoka thought to attack, but that thought lasted a mere second as several more rows of Droidekas flooded the room. Knowing that this fight would turn sour, Galen dropped his lightsaber from his hands and remained still. Ahsoka, also realizing the gravity of the situation, dropped her lightsaber too. A commander battle droid was quick to snatch the sabers up and began to walk away. The two were herded towards the command center.
"Well, what now," Ahsoka whispered.
"Just trust me. I have a plan."
Ahsoka was both assured and uncertain. Starkiller seemed to know what he was doing, but he often did things that were risky, and perhaps at times, suicide, but so far, none of his plans had failed, and they weren't dead yet.
Besides, I kind of like the risky side of things, Ahsoka thought to herself.
A short march had them in the command center. Ahsoka stood with Starkiller. General Grievous stood nearby, sizing up the two, and giving a laugh followed by some coughs.
"Once again, the Jedi send children to stop me. How amusing."
Ahsoka bristled at the use of the word child. She had never liked being called a child.
While Grievous was sizing them up, Galen was sizing up the droid general as well. Grievous had a height advantage, but he was not bulky, so he probably was nimble. At first, he seemed to have no weapons, but as the droid commander handed Grievous their lightsabers, Galen could see another lightsaber tucked in his cloak. Grievous turned his back and continued to speak.
"I expected much more from the Jedi, but it seems they are losing ground."
Galen touched his elbow to Ahsoka's arm. She turned her eyes, but not her head to see him. He then motioned his eyes. She followed the direction and noticed what he was hinting at. With a slight nod to acknowledge, she returned her attention to Grievous. Galen did the same.
"You seem so sure of yourself Grievous," Galen commented. "For someone who is about to lose the battle."
"Is that a threat, youngster? If so, how can you hope to carry it out. You are defenseless and alone. There is no one to help you."
"Don't count on it, Grievous," Ahsoka said.
From where Ahsoka stood, she saw an aqua-blue blade sprout from Starkiller's hand. The binds holding his hands together snapped. His lightsaber touched her binds and the fell to the ground in pieces. He then tossed her a shoto, which had a gold blade. Quickly cutting the battle droids guards surrounding them, they summoned their main lightsabers from Grievous's cloak. Starkiller held both aqua-blue lightsabers in reverse Shien grip in his ready stance. Ahsoka held her shoto in reverse grip while holding her main lightsaber in a Soresu ready stance.
To be continued…