Author's Note: Hello! Here's chapter 5! The action's gonna pick up a notch in this chapter! It gets pretty intense, and injuries are relatively descriptive, but the violence is still somewhat mild and nothing is gory. I hesitate to use a content warning because I'm not sure this chapter needs that kind of attention, so this is all you're getting. :) Enjoy!
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Chapter 5
"Bariss is infected." Anakin reported abruptly.
He half turned from the communication console, waiting for Master Luminara's eyes to widen in alarm or for her to pepper him with questions involving her padawan's safety. The most concern the other Jedi showed was her mouth pursing into a straight line. Not that Anakin was exactly surprised.
"Then our hope is in your padawan, Skywalker." The Mirialan woman replied smoothly.
Anakin set his jaw. Obi-Wan rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, I suppose it is." Obi-Wan responded in his stead. A wash of reassurance passed over Anakin through the Force bond he still maintained with his old master, however faded the connection had become over the last several months. It had begun to dull when he formed a training bond with Ahsoka. Could he not keep them both?
Frowning, Anakin nodded his thanks to his old master, though he had no doubt Obi-Wan could feel his frustration. Anakin checked the mental shields screening him from the other Jedi Masters, relieved to discover them still intact. It had been harder than he thought to reign in his emotions after the interrogation with Poggle. His anger at the Geonosian and his worry for Ahsoka fed his Force signature's wild nature. He'd managed to get those feelings under wraps, at least, but the frustration still lingered, tightening his jaw, churning his gut. Closing his eyes, Anakin recited a mantra in his thoughts, the one Obi-Wan had always quoted to him as a youngling.
There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony.
It didn't make him feel better.
...
Ahsoka was still in the vents on her way to the bridge when she felt the ship jerk out of hyperspace. Bariss would find her soon. The Mirialan knew just as well as Ahsoka that the ship needed to be guided in to dock. Whoever got to the controls first would control communication with Master Fisto, docking at the station, and ultimately, whether the worms spread or not. This was the critical part of the mission. This was the do or die.
It was all she could do to drag herself to the bridge.
It was SO cold. Her teeth chattered. Her skin shivered. If she stayed motionless for too long, her muscles would cramp up into an aching stiffness, contracting and tightening. No doubt the ship's core temperature was far past freezing now.
Ahsoka raised the grate just before to the bridge, her arms barely fostering the strength to lift herself from the vents. She knew sluggishness was not a good sign. Early hypothermia maybe. Hopefully nothing a night in a bacta tank couldn't fix, as much as she hated those types of procedures. It wasn't so much the bacta as the sedation, she thought. And the dreams. Ahsoka shook herself, stumbling to the bridge door. She had a supply mission to finish.
With trembling purplish fingertips, she tapped the panel and stepped inside. No Bariss, and the clones had abandoned their posts guarding the bridge. At least the coolant system had done that much. Ahsoka dropped into the pilot's chair. First things first, she had to slow the ship and contact the medical station. She glanced out the viewport.
"We're coming in awfully fast…" The station grew in the windshield every second she stared.
Quickly, she tapped into the comm channel until the signal flashed green, the clouds of her frozen breath blurring the controls before her face. Outside the escort ships disengaged from the station, heading in the transport's direction.
Keep your guard up. The Force whispered. Ahsoka glanced out the frosty windshield. She was running out of time.
"This is Ahsoka Tano. Can you hear me?" No response. Didn't matter. She didn't have time for a response. "I'm shutting down the engines. I'll try to reverse the…"
All at once, the Force around her snapped to attention. There was a presence at her back.
Ahsoka whirled, leaping clumsily from her chair. A blue lightsaber slashed down onto the communication panel. The controls sparked and flickered against the damage; the frequency panel completely destroyed. There would be no contacting the medical station now.
Ahsoka swore. The Force screamed.
She hadn't kept her guard up.
Bariss stood before her, lightsaber at the ready, her eyes dulled and yet somehow also feral. Ahsoka snapped her own saber into a defensive position. The Mirialan lunged, snarling. Ahsoka kicked her in the stomach, dodging the blue lightsaber swinging for her head. It missed her montrals by inches, instead cutting a coolant system pipe. More cold air whistled from the rupture. Bariss shrieked, tripping over herself, falling to the floor.
The floor shifted beneath her feet, the ship pitching hard starboard.
Ahsoka fell to her knees, her lightsaber skipping out of her grasp and across the cabin floor, fingers scrambling over the floor for a handhold. Bariss too lost her footing and flailed. Ahsoka slammed against the wall with a yelp. Bariss collided with the control panel and slumped, motionless. Ahsoka prayed she was just unconscious and not... the other thing.
The ship tipped again and Ahsoka grit her teeth, planting her hands on the ground. She held fast, but Bariss flopped onto her back, her eyes shut, blood pouring from a cut across the bridge of her nose.
"Bariss!" Ahsoka called out. The padawan didn't respond.
Ahsoka willed her body to work, pulling herself into a crawl on shaking hands and knees. Her teeth chattered. The metal burned like ice against her palms. She couldn't save Bariss, she couldn't save herself, if she didn't get up. Finish the mission. Finish the mission.
She craned her neck to see the navigation controls. Earlier she'd put them on manual, intending to bring the ship in herself. Now they were spinning freely. Ahsoka dragged herself to the controls. She clawed her way up the back of the pilot's chair. She hauled herself off the floor. She stretched toward the toggles. In the corner of her eye, Bariss was scrambling to her feet, hissing, glaring at her. But the controls were inches from Ahsoka's fingers and if she could just stretch—
The frigate jerked, flinging Ahsoka over the controls. The hull shuddered, like something was pulling on it. She blinked. The escort ships had locked on. For a moment, relief flooded over Ahsoka's anxiety, but then metal creaked around her. The escorts weren't maintaining full control.
The medical station loomed before her eyes. They weren't slowing fast enough.
She felt Bariss struggling to rise behind her. It was a race. Ahsoka only needed a moment to disengage the engines. A moment. She jabbed at one button, then another…
Bariss kicked Ahsoka in the back. She gasped, one of the joysticks slamming into her stomach. She rolled to meet her opposer. Bariss raised her lightsaber. Ahsoka's eyes frisked over the cabin floor for a weapon. Her saber, abandoned in the corner. She called it to her hand.
It shot through the air. Bariss' blade neared her face.
With a yellow flash, the sabers clashed together. Ahsoka's arms shook at the impact, her back pressed against the control panel. Around them the frigate shuddered, straining, creaking.
The severed coolant tube hissed above her head. Ahsoka grit her teeth. With a mighty cry, she thrust Bariss' saber away, kicking her knee inward. There was a sickening pop. A howl of pain. Ahsoka lunged for the coolant tube.
Cold air gushed over Bariss. The padawan shrieked, her hands crushing her head. It sounded like the real Bariss crying out, her voice raspy and wailing. Ahsoka felt sick. All the strength she'd amassed drained from her body. She shoved the Bariss back with a weak Force push, trying to drive her from the bridge— Her lightsaber went flying, but the girl only crumpled against the floor. Ahsoka couldn't feel her fingers. She couldn't even feel the Force flowing through her hands.
Again, the ship lurched, shooting forward. The escorts lost control.
"No!" Ahsoka cried. Her breath was vapor before her face. She staggered to the forward console and slammed her fist against the damaged controls, punching the sequence to engage the reverse thrusters. Nothing was responding. Her thinking felt detached from her, bleary and vague. She couldn't remember if she was even pressing the right buttons. Bariss whimpered at her back, shivering from the floor.
"Kill me, please."
Ahsoka stared at her, glassy-eyed and horrified. "I can't."
She turned back to the console, her knees threatening to buckle. She wasn't quite conscious enough to recognize the Force's warning.
A dark power lunged at Ahsoka from behind; she spun around and Bariss rose, throwing her hands around Ahsoka's neck. She let out a strangled gasp. The Force surged with passion and power. The worm squirmed to the surface from deep in Bariss' throat shrieking. Ahsoka ripped at her green hands. The Mirialan strangled her neck harder. Ahsoka's breath froze against her lungs, her vision spotting black. In a panic, she gripped her lightsaber, her consciousness fading.
Ahsoka slashed her green blade across her opponent. Bariss fell away with a scream. The worm screeched.
Gasping, Ahsoka stumbled to the engine console, starboard side, smashing buttons. Reset, extinguish, stabilize. Something worked. Her knees buckled. The escorts caught up and the frigate slammed to a halt. For a moment, Ahsoka felt her body soar across the bridge, weightless in the air, buoyed on cold clouds and numbness. She couldn't feel anything. Not even the cold. She thought of Bariss, her scream ringing in her montrals. She thought of Anakin, somewhere in distant space. She wished she hadn't masked her feelings last time they spoke. She wished they'd made up. She thought of the glimmer of pride he'd expressed to her on Geonosis, and she smiled.
The artificial gravity caught up, her frame crunching against the far wall. Her head cracked against the metal. Her vision flickered black. The pain wrenched a guttural scream from her throat. The cockpit lights surged, bathing everything in blue. The control panel sparked.
"Boring… hyperspace… jump." Ahsoka moaned. Just filling her lungs with air was excruciating. She wasn't convinced a bacta tank could fix her this time.
Two breaths later, her consciousness slipped away.
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Ahhhhhhhhh... cliffhanger! If you didn't notice, this is where I really begin to divide from canon. Stay tuned for the next chapter. It will probably be another 2 weeks before I post again, so Tuesday, January 2nd. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks for reading! Please review if you feel so inclined.