Chapter Four

614 22 2
                                    

Ashara heard a crash from behind her, and turned briefly to see that one of the three clones had taken down a vulture droid. Rex yelled, "This is it. Scrap em!"

With those words, Rex and the other clones darted forward, using the vulture droid as a barricade, and started shooting down the droids from there. Ashara smiled, and rushed forward, her lightsabers cutting through the metal plates of two droids. She went from droid to droid, easily cutting through them. Even with the sudden change of pace, the droids still outnumbered her, and she was forced back toward the clones. She noticed that there were only two of them left, and she quietly grieved for the lost clone.

"Surrender, republic dogs!" a B1 battle droid said. 

"We've got you outnumbered!" Rex shouted.

"Outnumbered?" the B1 battle droid said, confused as he started to count the droids surrounding him. "Wait, one, two, three-" Before he could finish a familiar fighter flew overhead, and shot down several of the droids. Ashara gave a tired smile when Obi-wan landed in front of them and easily took down two droids. The fight continued, and she hurried over to Obi-wan, taking down a few droids as she did so.

"Took you long enough!" she shouted over the sound of blaster fire.

"I'm here now, aren't I?" he shouted back. She laughed, before charging back into battle, Obi-wan close behind her.

As clones poured out of the gunships, Ashara smiled, knowing that she would live to fight another day. She charged past Rex and a couple other clones, going on the offensive while Obi-wan stayed on the defensive. Every now and then, she would catch a glimpse of him beside Rex, deflecting blaster shots.

She saw him run past into the monastery, and suspected he was going to go find Anakin. She sighed, and hoped that everything would go well there. Ventress was still inside, possibly fighting Anakin and Ahsoka. Ashara prayed that Anakin and Ahsoka were alright. She rather enjoyed their bickering and would miss it if Ventress had ridden the world of them.

She fell back slightly, returning to defensive so she could talk to Rex a bit. "Do you think Anakin's alright?"

"I'm sure the General's fine!" Rex shouted, focusing on shooting the droids. Ashara nodded, and continued sending the blaster fire back towards the droids, taking them out slower than she previously had before. Not even a minute later, Rex's comm was going off, and Anakin's voice through.

"Captain Rex, this is General Skywalker", he said. Ashara felt a wave of relief at hearing her friend's voice.

"Yes, general", Rex answered. Anakin sounded solemn as he spoke.

"We're not going to be able to help you", he said.

"Don't worry about us, general. We'll be alright." Ashara looked up as the sound of a ship flew overhead. She guessed that Anakin was in that thing. Only he would be able to smoothly fly a ship that was falling apart. "The mission always comes first, sir."

Rex and Ashara quickly turned back toward the last few droids, a handful B1s, a spider droid, and a vulture droid. With little difficulty, they took down the B1 droids. 

"Cover me!" Rex yelled as he pulled out a grenade. Ashara watched as he darted forward, slid underneath the spider droid, placed the grenade and got out of there in just a few quick movements. She was impressed by his battle skills, and how he was thinking on top of his feet. There was a reason he was a captain.

Ashara felt another wave of relief when she felt Anakin's force signature jump away from the planet. He was gone, taking the Huttlet to Tattooine. Ventress and her forces had no reason to stay now.

Ashara leapt back into the fray, going back onto the offensive. She took down the last few droids with the help of the clones, and Obi-wan, who had reappeared after going into the monastery. She let out a deep breath once they were all destroyed, and turned back to her fellow Jedi. She walked over to the downed walker he stood by and leaned against it, closing her eyes.

"I'm so glad it's over", she muttered. "I don't ever want to see one of those clankers again."

A small chuckle came from her left, and she opened her eyes to see Rex. He had pulled his helmet off now that the fighting was done. Ashara heard her holo-comm beep, and she pulled it out, answering the call. It was Anakin.

"Ashara, is Obi-wan with you?" he asked. She nodded, and looked over at Obi-wan, who came and stood next to her.

"Anakin, have you made it to Tattooine?" he asked.

"Almost", Anakin answered. "But we ran into some old-"

"Anakin, did you get shot down again?" Ashara cut in, biting back a chuckle until she heard Ahsoka confirming it from somewhere else in the ship. Then she full on laughed, shaking her head. 

"This ship is too slow", Anakin defended. "I haven't had time to modify it yet."

Ashara shook her head. "Well, when we meet back up on the Resolute, Anakin, I'll help you modify it. Assuming you can get it back to the ship in one piece."

Anakin shot her a look. "Very funny."

Obi-wan cut in. "I'm still cleaning up your other mess, but I'll get there."

Ashara glanced over at Obi-wan. "I can take care of this mess here. You go help Anakin. We both know he's going to need it."

Anakin scoffed, about to argue, but Ashara cut off the transmission before he could say anything. Obi-wan shook his head. 

"I'm sure Anakin will be fine. Besides, we're almost done here", the Jedi Master said. Ashara sighed, but didn't argue. It didn't take long for the clean up process to be done, and soon they were calling a gunship to come pick them up. Ashara boarded with Obi-wan and Captain Rex, along with a few other clones that Ashara had yet to get the names of. She planned to, but not at the moment. Right now was meant to talk to Captain Rex.

"Captain", she said quietly as she stood next to him. "You were pretty great out there."

He smiled at her. "Thank you. You were even better though. I don't think I've ever seen a Jedi fight quite like you have."

Ashara chuckled. "That's because I don't follow the traditional fighting that other Jedi follow. I just follow what the Force tells me to do."

Rex nodded, not sure what to say. Ashara hummed in thought, before her eyes lit up in realization. "Oh! I don't think we've been properly introduced! I'm Ashara Ki, a knight of the Jedi Order."

She stuck out her hand for him to shake, which he took. "The name's Rex, Captain of the 501st battalion of the Grand Army of the Republic."

Ashara smiled at him. "It's nice to officially meet you, Captain Rex."

"The same to you, General Ki."

The Rise of the Valkyrie *ON HIATUS*Where stories live. Discover now