Chapter Text
“The shuttle!” Ahsoka yelled, leaping over a stray crate towards Maul’s ship. She threw out her arms and reached deep into the force to halt the shuttle’s movement.
Ahsoka’s feet began to slip and Rex grabbed one of her arms, still firing stun blasts and his brothers. Ahsoka gritted her teeth and stumbled forward as Rex lost his grip on her, she braved herself and pulled against the shuttle with as much force as she could command. She could see the engine jets burning even brighter as Maul increased the acceleration.
“There’s too many, I can’t hold them!” Rex cried out to Ahsoka between frantic shots.
Ahsoka realised that if she kept Maul from escaping, Rex and herself would most likely be killed by the clones. She took a deep breath and released her hold over the shuttle, which promptly zoomed out of the hangar.
Ahsoka quickly ignited her lightsabers and leapt in front of Rex. She began deflecting the blue blaster bolts away from the pair, making sure not to hit any of their brothers.
While Rex held back the clones, Ahsoka threw her lightsabers with the force into the hangar floor. The blue blades sliced cleanly though the durasteel. She held out her arms and spun in a circle rapidly before summoning her lightsabers back to her outstretched hands.
The circle of floor gave way, and Rex and Ahsoka fell to the layer below, landing with a heavy crash. The duo struggled to their feet, only to see Jesse and the other clones who had been thrown down by the lifts earlier.
“Blast them!” Jesse ordered.
Immediately Rex and Ahsoka resumed the relentless battle of running and deflecting shots, and stunning troopers.
Suddenly, the hangar lifts burst into life once more, throwing many of the legion back up to the main hangar level. The remaining clones continued to fire upon the pair. Ahsoka grunted as a blast grazed her upper arm, causing a burning pain to flare up. She flipped and leaped over some of the clones, throwing them backwards with the force before continuing to run.
Rex immediately began searching for a suitable ship for them to leave in, but was becoming more and more discouraged by the second.
“There’s nothing, they’re all in maintenance!” He shouted to Ahsoka over the echoing sound of blaster shots and groaning durasteel.
Ahsoka scanned the hangar while deflecting bolts. “There!” She shouted, seeing a solitary y-wing on the other side of the hangar. She began running towards it as the clones continued their pursuit.
Rex followed closely behind. “Get me over there!” He called to Ahsoka. She threw back a few clones with the force before lifting Rex up and tossing him towards the y-wing. She held back a wince at his scream - there were other priorities to worry about.
As Rex clung to the ship and began opening the hatch and firing up the engines, Ahsoka lifted her sabers once more, desperately trying to hold off the clones and they began to close in on her. She held back a yell as a blaster bolt hit her left shoulder, forcing her to rely heavily on her right blade. The barrage of blasts had no end. More of their brothers appeared, focusing their fire on Ahsoka. She continued to push them back with the force and dodge the shots aimed towards her.
Fatigue was beginning to set in, as Ahsoka stumbled and a bolt caught her leg.
Suddenly there was a shift. The gravity in the hangar gave way, and the ship listed heavily to the side. Clones began to slip and fall as the floor inclined more and more. The only reason Ahsoka didn’t plummet along with them was because she sunk her lightsabers into the floor as a pair of anchors.
“Come on!” Rex called to her, having suppressed his initial panic.
Ahsoka launched herself upwards and raced to where the ship was suspended. She turned off her lightsabers mid-jump and hooked them back onto her belt. Unfortunately, just as she was about to land on the ship, the y-wing was blasted out of the hangar by and explosion, and Ahsoka was left to tumble though the air.
Rex caught to gain control over the ship as it spun wildly. Once he had control, he followed the crashing Venator, searching for any sign of Ahsoka. Through all the billowing smoke and flying debris, he caught a glimpse of her running down the hull of the crashing star destroyer. Rex opened the hatch and tried to fly close to her.
Ahsoka jumped again and managed to grab the edge of the hatch, but lost cronyism of her momentum and slipped again. She controlled her freefall towards the durasteel and managed to roll and land on the hull again, resuming her race over the splintering metal. Sprinting with any energy she had left, Ahsoka ran, seeing Rex flying to the right of her amongst the falling wreckage. She leapt over a hulk of metal and charged before jumping off the egde.
Rex positioned the y-wing in front of her as she fell, reaching desperately towards the open hatch. She managed to grab hold and climb in as Rex flew away. As she closed the hatch, they could see the burning ruins of the Tribunal falling beneath the cloud layer. The republic had fallen.
“I’m so sorry Rex,” Ahsoka whispered mournfully.
“I should be the one apologising vod’ika,” Rex replied just as regretfully.
Ahsoka reached forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Before she had the chance to speak however, a splitting pain came crashing through her head from the force. Colours and sounds all blurred together, and Ahsoka knew no more.
~~~~~~~
“They will kill you if you stay,” Qui-gon Jinn firmly told the queen of Naboo.
“They wouldn’t dare - they need her to sign the treaty.”
Before Queen Amidala had a chance to respond, the force screamed out in warning. Both Qui-gon and Obi-wan staggered and held their heads until the pain subsided. Even the non-force-sensitives could feel some form of disturbance.
A loud crash could be heard from the hangar, followed by a few short exchanges of confused speech. Then the unmistakable sound of lightsabers being ignited and blasters being fired echoed towards the group.
Qui-gon and Obi-wan charged into the hangar, followed closely by the Queen’s entourage, to come face to face with a shocking sight.
Two people had seemingly appeared in the middle of the hangar. One was wearing white and blue mandalorian-style armour and was wielding two blaster pistols with deadly accuracy. The other was a female togruta with blue and white montrals and lekku, burnt orange skin, and white facial markings. She had two blue lightsabers in her grip, and was wearing armoured boots, vambraces and a mandalorian battle-dress. A Jedi and a Mando?
The strange pair were quickly and efficiently destroying the battle droids. Qui-gon noticed their proficiency with their weapons- clearly the pair were experienced with these sort of fights. Before either of the two Jedi had a chance to assist, the Togruta had flipped over a collection of droids, skilfully slicing them into pieces and throwing the rest backwards with the force so they smashed against the hangar wall and broke.
The girl turned off her lightsabers and clipped them onto her belt smoothly. She turned to the mandalorian, ignoring anyone else in the hangar. “Rex, are you okay?”
“For now,” the man replied grimly. “What happened?” He asked her quietly.
Qui-gon saw this as an opportunity to intervene. He walked towards the pair with Obi-wan in tow.
“It seems you beat us to it; we were just about to remove those battle droids ourselves. You have our thanks,” he said, nodding sincerely to the pair.
The Togruta turned to face him, her eyes flitted over him and his Padawan, noticing their lightsabers. Her face paled drastically as she looked at Obi-wan. She reeled back slightly in shock, turning to her companion. Unspoken words passed between the two in a matter of moments. Her breathing was getting irregular.
“No problem at all,” the girl managed to get out. She began swaying slightly, signs of exhaustion quickly becoming evident. Qui-gon was both impressed and worried at how well she had managed to keep that suppressed; something else was going on. She shouldn’t be so exhausted from that small fight. The longer Qui-gon looked, the more details he noticed. Both of them had blaster grazes and wounds that didn’t look like they were from the previous fight. They also had grease and dirt smudges visible.
“Ahsoka!” The armoured man exclaimed as her knees buckled. He lunged forwards, catching the Togruta before she hit the floor. He cradled her body in his arms and pulled her onto his lap carefully. Qui-gon could feel his concern rippling though the force.
“What happened to her?” Obi-wan asked with concern as he crouched down next to the pair.
The mandalorian tightened his arms around the girl as he picked her up protectively and stood. “Look, it’s been a long day, can we do this later?” He growled out, not taking his gaze off of her.
“Padawan, he is right. We must hurry your highness,” Qui-gon turned to the Queen.
She nodded and followed her party onto a sleek Nabooian starship.
“I suggest you both come with us. The trade federation will be here soon,” Qui-gon told the man.
He noticed the shock from the mandalorian when the trade federation was mentioned, but put it at the back of his mind. There were more important things to worry about.
“Obi-wan, take them aboard.”
“Yes Master,” Obi-wan replied. He moved and offered to carry the girl, but the mandalorian didn’t relinquish his hold on her. The four of them quickly walked up the boarding ramp of the ship.