The Rise of the Valkyrie *ON HIATUS*

Chapter Forty

Ashara stood out in the hallway as Anakin confronted Dooku. The battle didn't last long, and Dooku started electrocuting Anakin. She could hear his cries of pain from outside the room, and she grimaced, anger welling up inside her. She glanced in and saw her original kidnapper all those years ago, standing to the right of the throne. She growled, and took her stand. 

"That's enough, Dooku", she snarled, and her hand automatically shot out. Lightning came out of her hand, and struck him, electrocuting him. She didn't stop until he was unconscious. She looked at the zygerrian, and he started backing away. She used the force to pick him up, and send him out through the window behind the throne.

Ashara rushed over to the queen, and silently contacted Teriko, telling him to bring the ship to the palace, outside the throne room window. As soon as she heard the engines, she gestured to Anakin to pick up the queen, and she led the way through the already broken window.

Anakin gently lay the queen on the floor of the ship's cargo bay, and she spoke quietly. Ashara couldn't hear what she said, but by the look on Anakin's face, she knew that the queen had told him where the slaves were. She watched as the queen's last breath faded away, and she scoffed, glad that this adventure was almost over. 

Anakin tossed her lightsaber back to her, and she grinned.

"The queen did have it", she said brightly. Anakin nodded, storming past her and up to the cockpit, where Ahsoka, Teriko, and R2 were. Ashara changed into her normal outfit, glad to be out of that revealing dress. She was quite happy with her normal style, and did not need any sort of change to it. She was kind of sad that Rex wouldn't get to see her in it, since she wanted to see his reaction, but she supposed that that was for the best. 

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Ashara glanced behind her as an explosion sounded, and she saw their stolen ship being decimated. She was glad none of her friends were on board, having all come with to help with the rescue effort. They had a plan, but they had no idea how well it would work. Teriko had actually done a good job coming up with a strategy to get them through, so now they would have to see if it would hold against whatever the Zygerrians threw at them, and if he was able to be flexible in battle. 

If Ashara was being honest, this wasn't how she expected Teriko's first mission to go, but in war, mission can go awry at any moment, and it was necessary to be prepared for that, so perhaps it was a good thing that her padawan's mission didn't go smoothly.

The four of them, plus R2 pressed against the door, just after it closed, and Anakin just had to make a comment.

"So much for our ride home."

Ashara rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything to her brother. Ahsoka took this opportunity to speak.

"What now?" she asked. Anakin smirked.

"We get through, the old-fashioned way." He ignited his blade, and stabbed it through the metal, melting it slowly as he pushed through. Ashara sighed, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get through faster, I have two blades that I'm experienced with. Let me."

Anakin stepped to the side, and Ashara took over, stabbing her blades into two different spots, and moving them slowly through the metal, creating two half-circles that almost connected. She was interrupted by Obi-Wan's voice coming through on a screen just above R2's head.

"Anakin, Ashara, I'm glad to see you, but I'm afraid our host feels otherwise", he said urgently. 

"Well, you can't make everyone happy, Master", Anakin replied. Ashara kept slowly moving through the metal, trying to cut through so they could move ahead.