Present Day
Location: Coruscant
Aurora's POV
We were all standing around the holotable in the Jedi temple on Coruscant. I had arrived only a few moments prior to Coruscant, and as soon as my ship was landed, Geenine was ushered into her own briefing, and I was immediately rushed into the briefing room along with Anakin, Obi-Wan, Cody, Rex, Fives, Echo, and Plo Koon.
"As you all know," Plo began. "The Citadel is their most isolated and impenetrable detention facility. No one has ever escaped."
"Until now." I said with a small smirk as I crossed my arms.
Anakin nodded. "There's a first time for everything."
"Their security has prevented our probes from obtaining recent reconnaissance, so we've been forced to construct a crude map based upon data from the archives." Plo explained before a holographic image of the Citadel popped up on the holotable.
"And since the data is extremely old, the map will be difficult to rely on." Obi-Wan sighed.
"So, this will essentially be a blind operation?" I questioned and all three Jedi nodded.
"Fabulous." I murmured.
"Beg your pardon General, but how do we know Master Piell is still alive?" Rex asked.
"The Separatists won't dare kill Master Piell until they have what they need." Obi-Wan explained.
"What does he have that they need?" I inquired.
"He obtained the coordinates of a secret hyperspace lane known as the Nexus Route, which travels into the heart of both the Republic and Separatist homeworlds." Plo explained.
"The Nexus Route? I thought that was just some deep space pilot legend." I said in disbelief.
"That's what I thought originally, but evidently, it's real." Anakin explained.
"They could prove vital in maneuvering our forces deep into remote Separatist sectors." Obi-Wan added.
"Or the Separatist could use them to slip through your defenses and attack Coruscant." I countered making him nod in agreement.
"These hyperspace lanes are of immense interest to both our sides and could tip the scale of the war to whomever is in possession of them." Plo explained before shutting off the holoprojector. "That is all."
All of us started to make our way out of the briefing room. As we started to walk down a corridor Plo began again.
"Based on the archive schematics, we've narrowed it down to three possible locations they could be holding him at." He explained.
"My greatest concern is infiltrating their outer security. The life form scanners will not be easy to fool." Obi-Wan said with a small sigh.
Anakin's face then became plastered with a grin. "I've got a thought about that."
Just then a voice from behind us made me turn around. It was Ahsoka. I smiled as she ran up to the group.
"Master, I'm sorry I'm late. I just heard about the briefing, we're going to rescue Master Piell, right?" She asked making all of us come to a stop.
Obi-Wan sighed. "You two have much to discuss."
We then let Anakin and Ahsoka talk out what they were going to do as we continued to walk down the corridor.
"Aurora, I've been meaning to ask you something." Obi-Wan began.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Do you know anything about a group of Mandalorians being built up on Dxun that are going against Separatist forces?" Obi-Wan asked making me come to a stop, but Plo and the Clones kept on walking down the corridor as they knew this was more of a personal matter for me.
"On Dxun? What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.
"There has been talk about a Mandalorian uprising that has been occurring on Dxun that has been drawing the Separatists away from taking over Onderon. Do you know anyone who'd try to take the Separatists down?" Obi-Wan asked.
I tilted my head to the side and that's when it hit me. It was Crashun. That asshole was building his own personal army to fight the Separatists. Now I really wanted his head on a spike for calling me a hypocrite for helping the Jedi when he's out there trying to combat the Separatists himself.
I shook my head. "No."
Obi-Wan looked me over for a moment before nodding as we continued walking down the hallway. We were silent before Anakin called after us.
"Ro!" He called making me stop in my tracks and turn around to face him. Obi-Wan did the same.
"What?" I asked in confusion as he caught up to us.
"You can't come on the mission with us." He explained quickly.
"WHAT!" I screamed. "WHY?"
"I need you to stay here to watch Ahsoka to make sure she doesn't come on the mission with us…she's not ready for an intense stealth operation like this." He explained making my face turned red with anger.
"So, the only reason you bought me here is to be Ahsoka's…babysitter." I said in an angry tone.
"Yes." He said cautiously and my face turned a deep dark red.
"I can't believe you!" I practically shouted. "So, your plan was to drag me from my home, have me lie to my mother, and then tell me I can't go on the mission because I have to babysit your Padawan who is old enough to handle herself."
"Ro." He practically moaned in grief. "It's not like that."
I pushed past him and started to walk down the corridor. I then stopped halfway down and turned back to look at both of them.
"The next time you need my help…I'm not coming! FIGURE IT OUT FOR YOURSELVES! YOU'RE TWO FULLY GROWN MEN…YOU DON'T NEED THE HELP OF A PRINCESS WHO KNOWS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT BATTLE STRATEGY!" I shouted at them before flipping both off, before continuing down the corridor to go find Ahsoka.
I wondered around for a little bit before finding Ahsoka in her room sitting on her bed and sulking.
"I'm sorry." She replied quietly. "It's all my fault."
I shook my head as I sat down next to her. "No, it's not, it's Anakin's."
"I can't believe they get to go in carbonate to go on a mission like this." She said with a sigh.
"Carbonate?" I questioned. "That's how they are getting past the lifeform scanners?"
She just nodded before putting her head in her hand. I looked at her before I looked at the door. If they were going to get in carbonate, that means they wouldn't even see the both of us get on board that ship until we were at the Citadel when they could do nothing to stop us. That's when the lightbulb in my head went off. I automatically stood up.
"That's it. Get up." I ordered her.
"Why?" She moaned before I tossed her both of her lightsabers.
"Get up, get your glowsticks, and get whatever you need…we're going on a Field Trip." I explained before opening the door to exit the room. "Meet me in the hangar ASAP."
"Where are you going?" She asked in confusion.
"To get Fox and Shock!" I called before breaking out into a run. I ran toward the Clone Barracks to get two of the most trusted clones I've ever known. As I ran into the barracks, I was happy to see both Fox and Shock talking to another group of clones. They immediately stopped talking when they saw me.
"You two!" I called after them. "Get whatever you need and meet me in the hangar."
Both looked to each other before nodding to me before running off to their rooms to get their gear. Since Geenine was already getting prepped for the mission with Artoo, I didn't have to worry about making sure she gets on the ship…I just had to worry about the four of us getting on the ship. By the time we all got to the hangar. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the others were already in carbonate, and being loaded onto the shuttle that Artoo, Geenine, and 3 re-programed battle droids were flying into the Citadel. I ran over to the operator of the carbonate freezer, and after negotiating to the best of my ability (I gave him over 100 credits), before he gave me clearance to get myself and the others in carbonate. By the time the others arrived, we were already mentally and physically prepared to be carbon frozen.
"Ok, is everyone ready?" I asked as the four of us walked up to the carbon freezing device.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Ahsoka said with excitement. "Thanks Ro."
I tossed her a smirk before looking to Fox and Shock. "I'm guessing you're both happy to be coming along as well?"
"Of course, Princess." Fox said with a nod. "It's always a pleasure to accompany you on assignments, especially this one."
"You are an excellent leader." Shock said in agreement as we all took our places on the platforms that would eventually be lowered into the carbon freezer. Within seconds, the alarm went off, which signaled us to be lowered into the freezer. Within seconds, a cold mist started to fill the chamber that I was in, and everything went black.
(10 Hours Later)
I slowly started to feel my senses come back to normal as I slowly stepped forward before, I started to rub my groggy eyes. Glancing around me, I noticed that the surroundings changed from Coruscant, to the harsh semi-volcanic terrain of Lola Sayu. I glanced to my right to see Fox and Shock starting to stretch and get their bearings back before I heard around the corner from me, Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka having an argument.
"Oh, and I brought back up." I heard Ahsoka say.
"Who?" Anakin asked, and just as he did I rounded the corner with a smirk.
"Oh no." Anakin said in annoyance.
I continued to smirk as I put my right arm around Ahsoka's shoulders and in return a smirk became plastered to her face as she put her left arm around my shoulders.
"No, no…I can't do this today…not today." Anakin said before he started to pace.
"Aw, I've never seen him speechless before." I said with humor dripping in my voice.
"WHY CAN'T YOU FOLLOW ORDERS!" Anakin furiously shouted at me which made Ahsoka take a step back in both shock and fear.
I in response tried to keep a straight face before I burst out laughing hysterically. Making Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka look at me in confusion.
"If you think that's going to make me follow orders…keep dreaming." I said in between laughs as I started to walk past the group and along the path in front of us, which was cut out of the cliff that the shuttle landed on. Eventually, the rest of the group caught up to me, and Anakin signaled for us to stop as he pulled out a pair of binoculars.
"I see the entry point." Anakin announced.
"You were right." Cody began. "The wind conditions are too strong for jetpacks."
"Thankfully I rarely wear mine anymore." I explained.
"But yet whenever you wear what you are currently wearing, you somehow get injured." Ahsoka replied gesturing to my attire.
I stuck my tongue out at her. "You're just jealous."
"Of you, as if." Ahsoka said with an eyeroll.
"Both of you, stop it." Obi-Wan scolded. "We'll have to get to the entry point the old-fashioned way, with ascension cables and a steel grip."
"I don't think so." Anakin replied.
"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan questioned.
Anakin pointed. "Electro-mines. There's nowhere to put a grappling hook at that height, and if we hit one of those, the mission's over. They'll know we're here."
"I guess we're going to have to free-climb it." I said with a sigh of annoyance.
Sure enough, once we reached the cliffs, we started to climb up them. Thankfully, my aunt and Pre made sure I knew how to climb in case my vambraces were stolen, or my jetpack had a malfunction, I would be able to adapt to the environment that would be given to me. Hence why I was able to pass the group as we all climbed up the cliff.
"Slow down Ro!" Anakin called up to me as I almost reached the platform to the entryway.
I smirked as I looked down to them. "It's not my fault I'm better at this then you are."
"She's such a showoff." Anakin said with a moan of annoyance.
"I can hear you because of the echo." I called back down to him with a small smirk.
Just as I was about to reach the platform, I heard a familiar noise which made me signal to the group to both keep quiet and to stop climbing. As the sound I heard was the sound of a destroyer toll onto the platform. I held my breath as I patiently waited for the droid to roll back inside of the Citadel, and when it did, the door that was our main entryway was now locked by a ray shield.
"Fuck." I said aloud.
"Language Aurora!" Obi-Wan called up to me. "What's wrong."
"The door is ray shielded." I explained from my position.
"Ray shielded?" Anakin called up to me. "That wasn't the plan!"
"Well, it is now dumbass!" I said in annoyance.
Ahsoka tilted her head back before pointing up. "There's an opening further up!"
Anakin rolled his eyes in annoyance. "We know! They're ventilation ducts. But they're far too small for us to gain access."
"Too small for you, maybe, but I think I can squeeze through." Ahsoka replied which made me smirk in response.
"Well, we hadn't planned on Ahsoka or Aurora being here. Perhaps she's right." Obi-Wan said with a slight head tilt.
Without an answer or response Ahsoka climbed up, past me, and into the air-vent while I pulled myself up onto the platform. Within seconds the ray shield was down, and I smirked in response as I looked down to the rest of the group.
"Come on boys!" I called down with a smirk. "The drawbridge is down!"
I turned around to Ahsoka who gave me a high-five.
"And they said we should've stayed home!" Ahsoka said with excitement.
"They'd be nowhere without us!" I said with a slight laugh.
Within a few moments, the rest of the group climbed up onto the platform, but just as Fives was helping the last clone onto the platform, the clone's foothold broke away from the cliff, and just as Fives reached forward for his hand, he missed.
"Charger!" Fives called out, but it was far too late as Charger fell down the cliff and activated the electro-mines, which fried his body. That's when the alarms started to go off.
"Well, they know we're here." Obi-Wan said with a sigh.
"Let's go people!" I shouted as we all ran into the Citadel, since we didn't know how long we had to get in, get what we needed, and get out.
"Take out the surveillance." Anakin ordered and the clones started to fire at the cameras surrounding the hallway. Shockingly, some of the cameras, were firing at us, which then started a shootout between the clones and the cameras…in the end…the clones won. That's when a sparking noise started to occur which made me turn around to see that an electrified wall was making its way toward us.
"The walls are electrified!" Cody exclaimed.
"Everybody take cover!" Anakin ordered and we all ran as fast as we could to get out of the electrified walls. Shock almost didn't make it, but at the last moment, I yanked him with all my strength.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Shock said graciously.
"I'm not losing any of my men on this!" I said breathlessly as we continued to run down corridors following the group.
"Keep moving!" Obi-Wan instructed as well continued to run down the corridors. Eventually, we started to move slower, as we came across the hallway of prison cells.
Cody opened the door allowing for him, Fox, Rex, Fives, Shock, and Echo to walk in to shoot the three commander droids that were operating controls down. I on the other hand kicked the interrogation droid down to the ground and held both of my blasters in its face before shooting it, while the rest of the team went down the hallway to get the Jedi.
"It's good to have you back, Your Highness." Rex said with a nod.
I smiled. "It's good to be back Rex."
"Ro." Ahsoka called to me, and I walked down the hall, as I rounded the corner to the cell, I saw Anakin speaking to the Jedi, who was smaller than him…smaller than all of us, but, one thing I always remember, 'size means nothing'.
"So, you have the coordinates for the Nexus Route?" Anakin asked.
Piell nodded. "I got them, all right. Half of them, anyway. My captain's got the other half. I erased the computers when we were boarded and had both of us memorize part of the intel. That way, if somehow, I cracked, the information would be useless to them without the other half."
"That was a very smart move." I said with a smile.
He smiled. "Even the Princess agrees."
I was taken back, he knew who I was (but then again, almost the entire galaxy did).
"Don't worry Your Highness, I have known about your occupation choices for a while." Piell explained.
"It's Aurora," I began returning the gesture. "And I can imagine. Where is your captain?"
"Being held with the others, I assume." Piell explained.
"We're going to need a new plan for getting out of here." Anakin explained and we all nodded before rushing out of the cell and continuing down the hallway. As we rounded the corner, three more commander droids appeared with their weapons drawn ready to fire, and just as we were to combat them, three more appeared behind the ones that initially arrived.
The clones started to fire, and easily defeated all six droids. I looked around the hallway to see if there were any more droids incoming, but instead my head picked up as I heard something that no one else heard.
"Do you all hear that?" I questioned and everyone shook their heads no.
I immediately raised both of my blasters to the ceiling and began to rapidly fire at the ceiling, which eventually led to the reveal of many devices that could've relieved all of us of our weapons.
"How did you hear that?" Piell questioned.
I gestured to my ears. "Force-sensitive…long story."
Piell looked surprised, but his shock turned into annoyance as four more droids came into view.
The clones started firing, but to save time, I activated both of my vambraces, ran in front of the clones, and flamethrower the droids to smithereens. Once all the droids were destroyed, I looked back to the group.
"Let's move!" I ordered before breaking out into a run.
"Now you know why I brought Ro!" Ahsoka said with humor dripping in her voice as she and the rest of the group followed me down the corridors.
Eventually, we made our way to another hallway of cells, and because I had overly sensitive hearing, I was leading this part of the operation. I pointed to a cell as Anakin and Obi-Wan ignited their lightsabers to quickly cut through the door. Once the door incision was cut, I kicked down the door, and Ahsoka jumped in taking down another droid that was in the cell with Piell's flight crew.
Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Piell, and myself all walked into the cell, while the clones guarded the entry way. One of the captains stood up from his position.
"General." He said in a bit of relief.
"Captain Tarkin." Piell said with a nod as he walked toward him.
"I never thought I'd see you again." Tarkin explained. "And you brought friends.
Piell nodded. "Tarkin, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and…"
"Princess Aurora Kryze." Tarkin said in almost disbelief as he looked to me.
I looked him over. "How do you know who I am?"
"Ro," Anakin began in annoyance. "The entire outer-rim knows who you are."
I tilted my head to the side. "I really should change my hair color…maybe then people would start leaving me alone."
"You'd look nice with a Red color." Ahsoka said and I tilted my head back and forth in consideration.
"Not bad, I was thinking a little more outlandish…like blue maybe." I said in deep thought.
"That's a bit much." Obi-Wan said with a frown.
"She could work it." Ahsoka said with a nod. "I could see it. Maybe even a green would…"
"Can we all focus!" Anakin said in annoyance.
"Now that you've found us," Tarkin began. "How do you expect to get us out? If they've locked this fortress down, there's at least ten squads on their way. It's going to be impossible to escape."
"Not for us it won't." I explained.
"What if we split up? My team will create a diversion, while Anakin leads the others away. That way, if one of us is captured, the enemy will only have half of the information." Obi-Wan suggested.
"General Kenobi, I think it's better if we stick together. A stronger force would have a better chance of protecting the information." Tarkin countered.
"Not in this situation." I countered back. "Two groups would make it more difficult for the enemy to handle."
"Princess, with all due respect, I have had years of military training…you on the other hand have had years of learning how to curtsey the correct way." Tarkin said with a snark making me tilt my head to the side, along with narrowing my eyes. I was about to open my mouth to counter his comment, but Piell cut me off.
"Obi-Wan and Aurora have a point." Piell explained. "I'll go with him; you go with Skywalker and Tano."
I looked to Obi-Wan. "I'll go with you as well. Fox and Shock can go with Skywalker."
We all shared a nod before we separated. As we ran down the hall, Cody and a couple of other clones were setting some charges along the hallway. Just as we were nearing the end of the hallway, a couple of droids started chasing after us, but just before they could reach us, Cody set off the explosives, which destroyed several hallways, along with the droids in them.
"If that didn't get their attention, I don't know what did." I said to Obi-Wan.
"Agreed." He said with a nod before turning to me. "Are you alright?"
I turned to look him in the eye. "I want to murder Tarkin."
He nodded. "I know, but we must focus on getting out of here first. If we all make it out alive, which we will, I won't stop you from physically and verbally assaulting Tarkin."
I smiled as we walked down the hallway after the group. "I'm guessing you agree that he has the biggest stick up his ass?"
He smiled and shook his head. "We can agree on something Aurora, and surprisingly this is what we agree on."
I rolled my eyes, and the biggest smirk was on my face. "See, you and I are more alike than you think."
"Agreed." He said as droids rounded the corner making all of us put our hands up in response.
"We surrender!" Obi-Wan and I announced at the same time, before sharing a glance.
Things were about to get interesting.