Present Day
Aurora's POV
I quietly groaned in pain as we continued to walk through the jungle. I glanced down at the open wound on my right lower calf, it was oozing through the scraps of clothing we took from Kalifa's worn-out Jedi robes to wrap around my leg to make somewhat of a bandage for me. It wasn't the most sanitary thing to do from a medical standpoint (and I should know sense I've had some medical training here and there), but as of right now, it was going to have to do. Ahsoka felt around my leg before we fell asleep for the night, and noticed that I might've sprained my ankle, hence my issues walking, but as of right now, there were more important things to worry about than me being injured. My voice was also almost shot, making talking harder and harder for me to do, which when you're dealing with 3 children and Ahsoka…it's not the easiest thing for me to handle.
"Can we stop for a second?" I asked in pain both from my voice and my leg.
Everyone nodded and I leaned myself against a tree that was nearby.
"We've already covered the beach area and most of the brayer on this side of the bay." Jinx said in annoyance.
Ahsoka huffed in amusement. "Well, if it was easy to find, you guys would've found it before I got here."
Jinx nodded. "True enough."
"Maybe we should try more in land." Ahsoka suggested.
"It's worth a shot." Kalifa said in agreement.
"Guys, I think we're looking in the wrong place." O-Mer began before pointing up to the sky. "That's their fortress."
We all looked up to the sky to see the floating ship the Trandoshans dropped us off from get closer, and that's when we realized that the Trandoshans had spotted us and were attacking us from the sky using their hovercrafts.
"Split up!" Ahsoka instructed, as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders so I could run (or in my case hobble) along with her and Kalifa whereas O-Mer and Jinx went a different way to try and get themselves away from the attacking Trandoshans. Ahsoka, Kalifa and I were running along the tree line, but I knew in the back of my mind that I was in fact slowing us down. Ahsoka and I jumped from one tree to another, but Kalifa became rather unlucky, as when she got ready to jump, the Trandoshans spotted her, and shot at the branch allowing her to fall from the branch and the tree.
"Kalifa!" Both Ahsoka and I screamed as she fell all the way back down to the ground.
Ahsoka and I made our way down to her, as quick as we could. And eventually, we made it so that we were standing above the Trandoshan. Ahsoka jumped from the tree, and attacked the Trandoshan, who shot at her. Ahsoka then used the force to aim his blaster away from her, but it backfired as he jumped on top of her and began to choke her. That's when I used my left leg (my one good, and barefoot leg), to try and kick him off her. But it backfired. Not in Ahsoka's case…but in mine. The Trandoshan grabbed my leg and flung me so that I ended up against a tree trunk. With the Trandoshan distracted by me, Ahsoka then jumped onto the Trandoshan and flung him off the side of the ledge where we were, and eventually he became impaled by one of the sharp brushes below us.
Both of us then quickly (or in my case slowly) made our way to Kalifa, who felt just as beat up as I did…but she still looked better than me. Ahsoka wrapped one arm around her to stable her, and I wrapped one of mine around her to help as well.
"Carefull." I instructed.
"It's okay." Kalifa responded. "I can make it."
Ahsoka was about to reply, but Kalifa let out a sharp gasp as one of the Trandoshan blaster shots made it through her chest.
"Kalifa!" Ahsoka and I both exclaimed.
Ahsoka quickly moved her to a safe area, as the Trandoshans continued to fire at us.
"There's no escape!" One of them shouted to us. "I'll hunt you down!"
"We have to move." I said calmly.
"Please, Princess, Ahsoka, leave me." Kalifa begged.
"We won't." I replied as she laid down, so her head was in my lap. I held her head up so that she could look us both in the eyes.
"You have to." Kalifa explained. "Please take care of…"
Ahsoka nodded. "We'll take care of the others."
Kalifa smiled. "I know you will."
I smiled back at her…to the best of my ability, as I felt horrible about this girl. She was abandoned, everyone forgot about her, and no one came after her. I realized that I related more to these kids than anyone on this damn moon. "It's ok. Your job is done. You can rest now."
She nodded before she passed away in my arms. Her eyes were slightly open, so I closed them so that she would have some form of peace.
All this time though, the Trandoshan was still firing at us.
"I'll kill you! You killed my son! I'll kill you!" He continued to shout and fire at us.
Ahsoka wrapped her arm around my shoulders, and I did the same, as she helped lead me out of the brush so that we could meet up with the others. Eventually we made it back to the cave we were in just a few hours prior.
"You made it." Jinx said with relief.
"We feared the worst." O-Mer said in agreement. "Where's Kalifa?"
"She didn't make it." Ahsoka answered in sorrow.
"She's dead?" Jinx asked. "I…I can't believe it. She had been here longer than any of us and now…"
"We're all going to die here." O-Mer began. "It's only a matter of time."
"If it's only a matter of time that we die, I say we go down with a fight." I say from my position leaning against the wall.
"That is suicide." Jinx explains as he sat down.
"You've said that every few days they release new prisoners on the beach." Ahsoka began. "I say we attack that drop ship head on. They'll never expect it."
I smiled. "You've been hanging around me too much."
"Why?" Ahsoka frowned.
"Because now you're thinking like a Mandalorian." I said and she rolled her eyes.
O-Mer sighed before turning to Jinx. "Is it worth a shot?"
Jinx shrugged. "Maybe it is."
It was then settled, that we were going to attack the drop ship, but the only issue was me. Because of how badly I was injured, I was having difficulty moving, plus Ahsoka was concerned that I would make my spine go out of alignment with all of the movement I was doing, so she requested that I stayed in the cave. I protested, but I didn't argue, I needed the rest to prevent my leg from becoming infected. I was resting, leaning against the back of the cave when I began to hear voice come closer. I slowly got the dagger from belt as I stood up, ready to face whatever was coming into the cave to the best of my ability. That's when I realized that the voice sounded familiar…except one. I lowered my dagger as Ahsoka, Jinx, and O-Mer came into the room…accompanied by a Wookiee.
"How did it go?" I asked hoarsely, as my voice was becoming worse the more I spoke.
"This was the only survivor." O-Mer explained, and the Wookie growled in response.
Eventually, the 5 of us were sitting around the fire, trying to ask the Wookiee about who he was.
"Your name is Chewbacca?" I asked looking for confirmation from him.
Chewbacca growled in a way that in his language means yes.
"Chewbacca, does anyone know you were taken?" O-Mer asked.
Chewbacca growled a no.
"No." Ahsoka explained, as she and I would mainly do the translating. "But he says his home world is very close."
"That's great." Jinx began in annoyance. "But it might as well be Coruscant as far as I'm concerned. We've got no ship."
Chewbacca growled again.
"He thinks he can contact his home planet if we find a way to transmit a signal." Ahsoka explained.
"Right, and how would we do that?" Jinx asked in annoyance.
"Send smoke signals?" I asked. "Fire a flare, draw an SOS in the sand on the beach…I can keep going."
"You get worse when you are in pain." Jinx said and I nodded. "We don't exactly have a transmitter lying around if you haven't noticed."
Chewbacca growled again.
"Chewbacca says he can build a transmitter from the wreckage on the beach." Ahsoka explained.
"Well, we can't just sit here." O-Mer remarked.
Jinx sighed. "Fine, we'll do it the Wookiee way."
Soon enough they were heading to the ship's wreckage, and once again, because of my injuries, I was sidelined again. I was annoyed, but perhaps it was the best considering I was practically slowly dying a very painful death. I didn't even both trying to heal myself because that's just what everyone needs right now, an unconscious assassin. Eventually, I started to hear their voices again, but this time, another unfamiliar voice was heard. I assumed it was another rescued prisoner, so I didn't get my dagger out, but when they brought in a Trandoshan, my eyes widened, and I immediately grabbed the dagger out of my holster.
"Stand down Princess." Jinx explained as he pushed the Trandoshan down on the ground.
I slowly retreated to sitting back down but kept twiddling the knife between my fingers in case the Trandoshan got any ideas. As Ahsoka, O-Mer, and Chewbacca worked on the transmitter, which surprisingly worked to some extent (which means, not very well), Jinx became more annoyed.
"We got a prisoner." He began. "We should be using him to our advantage while we have a chance."
"I thought the prisoner was the backup plan?" Ahsoka asked.
"It's clear enough that we cannot rely on that device."
Chewbacca growled in annoyance.
"No offense." Jinx said putting his hands up in defense. "But we just can't sit here any longer."
"We should wait." Ahsoka explained.
"I…agree with Jinx." O-Mer said after a sigh. "We have to act while we have an advantage."
"Let's say we do it your way." Ahsoka began. "What's the plan?"
"We can use the prisoner to trick the enemy into flying one of their pods towards us. Then we hijack the pod, fly up to their base and take them by surprise."
"Ahsoka, you and Aurora got us to believe in ourselves again. And well, I believe Jinx's plan will work." O-Mer explained.
Ahsoka looked over to me.
I shrugged. "Don't look at me, I am most likely one injury away from death right now."
"Look, do what you want, but O-Mer and I are leaving with the prisoner in the morning." Jinx explained before he and O-Mer walked out of the cave.
"Their hearts are in the right place; you know I can't let them go alone." Ahsoka explained and Chewbacca growled in response.
"We are not going to be able to do this without you. We need your help." Ahsoka explained.
"Yeah, do you really want to watch me succumb to my injuries in a slow and painful way?" I asked in annoyance making the Trandoshan look at me in shock. I shrugged. "What're you looking at Lizard?"
Chewbacca growled again.
"Who knows? Maybe our luck is just about to change." Ahsoka explained and Chewbacca growled in response.
Sure, enough the next morning, we all headed to the beach. Once we all made it to the beach, Ahsoka turned around.
"Alright, we better get started." She explained to the Trandoshan.
"Right." Jinx said in agreement. "Time to call your friends."
The Trandoshan slithered in response. "I'm not helping you whelp."
"Chewbacca, we need him at eye-level please." Ahsoka instructed, and Chewbacca punched the Trandoshan down, so he was kneeling.
I looked deep into the Trandoshan's eyes.
'Here goes nothing.' I thought to myself.
"You will listen to me." I said in a monotone voice as I stared into the Trandoshan's eyes.
The Trandoshan started to laugh. "No, I won't."
I stared further into his soul. "You will listen to me."
The Trandoshan slithered again before replying. "I will listen to you."
"You are our captive, and now you've escaped." I explained.
"I was your captive, but now I've escaped." He replied.
"You need to call a speeder to pick you up." I continued.
"I need to call a speeder to pick me up." He replied.
The Trandoshan then activatded his coms, and after a few beeps the other line picked up.
"Smug, where have you been?" A voice asked.
"I need a speeder to pick me up." The Trandoshan replied.
Once he ended the call I glanced at Ahsoka who's eyes were filled with shock.
"I'm telling Anakin, that you just did that." She said with a smile.
"You can tell Obi-Wan too." I smirked. "I've been practicing on my brother."
Eventually, the Trandoshan that our prisoner called, came to pick him up, but was quickly taken out by Ahsoka, Chewbacca, O-Mer and Jinx. We all got into the speeder the Trandoshan came in, and started heading toward their ship in the atmosphere, to get off this god forsaken moon.
Eventually, we made it alongside of the ship, and with a little effort we got onto the ship. Eventually, one of the Trandoshans we didn't take out called for reinforcements leading to more Trandoshans to fire at us. We all quickly took cover behind one of their hovercrafts. One of the Trandoshans was running toward another hovercraft when Ahsoka had a great suggestion.
"Hey." She said gesturing to Jinx. "Let's give him a lift."
Jinx and Ahsoka then used the force to lift both the Trandoshan and the hovercraft to take out the rest of the Trandoshans firing at us. Chewbacca also attacked and took out some of the Trandoshan's in hand to hand, along with Ahsoka and I as well. O-Mer was aerial support as he was still piloting the hovercraft, we came in. Eventually that backfired as one of the Trandoshan's operating the ships canons hit O-mer's hovercraft, sending him into a crash landing onto the ships's deck. Just as we were all about to get up, the Trandoshan's aimed their blasters at us.
"A valiant effort, children." The head Trandoshan explained.
"Especially you Togruta and Mandalorian, you both will make prize trophies in my collection." He explained.
Just as we all accepted our fate, jet engines were heard up ahead, and Chewbacca roared with glee. His message did get out, allowing for us to be rescued. As soon as the Wookiee reinforcements started firing, so did the Transdoshans. From my position on the deck, I could see an opening to inside of the ship. I glanced at Ahsoka and both of us nodded, as we headed toward the inside of the ship. Ahsoka took the higher levels, whereas I took the lower levels. Eventually, I started to hear blaster fire above me, indicating that Ahsoka was in the middle of a fight, but in the back of my mind I knew she'd be ok because well…she's Ahsoka. As I continued in the ship, I eventually stumbled upon a grand trophy room. Along the walls had the heads of various species, along with their pelts as well. My eyes widened in horror as I looked around. Just how long have they been hunting innocent people, and why have they gotten away with it?
I continued to look around when my eyes stumbled upon something that was very rare…at least in my opinion. A Mandalorian Neo-Crusader helmet, which were extremely rare as they dated back to the time of the Old Republic. I grabbed it off the wall and continued to look around, that's when I stumbled upon two more things that I 100% needed to take. The first was an Echani Vibro-blade, once again very rare, and dated back to the Old Republic, and the other was a Kyrat Dragon Pearl, which were not only rare, but worth a lot of credits. I grabbed one of the satchels off of the wall and placed the items that I was taking in it, along with a holo that I didn't know what it had on it, but I figured it come into use, along with some spare credits that I found here and there. This place was literally a mine full of treasures that I could've spent hours looting, but I knew time was of the essence.
As quickly as I could, I made my way back to the main deck, to see that most of the Trandoshan forces were taken out, allowing for me to get onto the Wookiee's transport safely with Jinx, O-Mer, and Chewbacca.
"Thank you." I explained to the Wookiee who helped me on board, my voice coming out as a whisper.
"Torch?" I heard a familiar voice ask.
My head immediately whipped around to see one of my old associates, Sugi smiling at me from the captain's seat.
"What are you doing here?" I whispered as I sat down next to her.
"Apparently saving your ass." She said with a smirk. "Wait till Jiessa hears about this."
I rolled my eyes. "Don't start. And tell Jiessa, that I've saved her ass way too many times that I can count, so I don't want to hear anything."
Once Ahsoka was on the ship, we headed for Coruscant, and quite frankly after the last few days, I couldn't wait to get there.
We were met on the landing bay by Anakin, Plo-Koon, and Yoda, who all were overjoyed to see Ahsoka, Jinx, and O-Mer come home. Anakin was mid-conversation with Ahsoka when he made eye contact with me. His eyes widened in shock when he saw my condition.
"Ro, I think you need to head to the medical bay…you're bleeding, and your bruises are dark purple." Anakin explained in horror.
"I'm fine." I whispered. "I just need to show…"
That's the last thing I remember, before everything went black. I don't remember hearing anything else or seeing anything else. The next thing I remember is waking up in the infirmary again, with a team of both doctors and Jedi standing around me. My right leg was wrapped in a cast, I had a neck-brace like cast around my neck, bandages on my arms and my left foot.
"Good you're awake." One of the doctors explained before handing me a data-pad.
I looked around my room and saw Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all sitting listening to the doctor.
I glanced at the data pad then back to the doctor. I opened my mouth to speak but I was cut off by the doctor.
"You need to be on voice rest till further notice. Your vocal cords were severely inflamed from when you were strangled, and to not risk them getting damaged, you need to not talk for a while. You also need to not walk for a while, the knife to your leg was an easy fix, but because of how many bad falls you had, you herniated a disk in your spine, along with the fact that apparently it looks like a shark-bite was what hit your right leg, not a knife, there is marks for 6 teeth on it. You have cracked three of your left ribs and bruised your left lung, which can be fixable but overtime. But long story short, you need vocal and bed rest. So, use this data pad to communicate." The doctor explained.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance before glancing to Obi-Wan.
"Is he serious?" I typed in.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, you need to stay here before you can go back home, so we can ensure that you are healed properly."
"How long will that take?" I typed.
"About a week." The doctor explained. "Maybe two, depending on how things go, and when you start physical therapy."
I sighed in anger. I was never getting out of the infirmary, and when I did, my mother would have a whole new set of injuries for me to put me back in.