Shadows of Tomorrow

Chapter 30 - Trapped on Carlac

The speeder finally screeches to a stop by their waiting ship, and Ahsoka jumps off, with Lux, Artoo, and BD getting out a little more slowly. They can't leave Theseus behind like this. She needs to go back for him. But she can't get Lux killed in the process.

The sky is clear for the moment after she fought off the last of the warriors cashing them, but she knows it isn't going to stay that way for long. They aren't going to let them leave so easily. And now, all the droids that Artoo had programmed are destroyed, and she'd be facing down an entire army of terrorists, all of whom are likely very skilled with how to deal with Jedi.

Theseus probably won't even be able to help her at first since she's sure he's been restrained. She needs to go back, but taking a moment to think about it realistically, she's not sure how she'll be able to do this alone. The two droids won't be much help in a situation like this, unless she can think of something clever, and she doesn't have any ideas right now.

The best she can do right now is get Lux off of Carlac, and then go back to the Temple and ask for help. She knows Anakin will come with her to try and find Theseus, and maybe some others will be able to come as well. But she's going to have to move fast, because they could take Theseus elsewhere in the meantime, or they could change their minds and hurt him after all.

"Come on, Artoo, BD, it's time to go," Ahsoka says.

Both droids beep in protest.

"We have to come back for him. There's nothing we can do now. We need to hurry," she adds in warning.

With a final unhappy beep, Artoo rolls up onto the ship. BD continues to sit stubbornly in the snow, refusing to move.

Just then, a sudden flash of light in the sky catches her attention. Looking up, she sees the armored figures of Death Watch streaking towards them again. No. They have to go. Now.

"Come on!" she yells over her shoulder, spinning and racing onto the ship without waiting to see if the droid will follow. If it has any sense of self-preservation, it will.

She fires up the engines, closing the ramp and barely getting the external shields activated before an explosion shakes the whole thing. Most of it is deflected off the shields, but if they weren't up, the ship would probably be in smoking ruins right now. Still, there's only so much of this they'll be able to take, which is exactly why she has to leave now.

Trying to suppress her fear over her best friend's fate, she takes off the ground, speeding upwards towards the atmosphere. Several more blasts strike the ship as she goes, the strength of ship's external shield starting to drop, but finally, she reaches high enough, so they stop pursuing her.

She's setting course for Coruscant when Artoo suddenly beeps next to her. One of the escape pods is being activated?

"Lux!" she exclaims, jumping from her seat and hurrying out of the cockpit. She knew he wasn't up here but... What is he trying to do now? The day keeps getting worse, doesn't it?

***

What?! Theseus stares back at Vizsla, his mind still reeling from the words. Suddenly all those questions and doubts he had from his first time on Mandalore are racing to the surface again. The mysterious member of Death Watch who looks so much like his mother and is around the same age as him. The fact that his father was Mandalorian, and that his mother will never talk about him. The Force should be telling him that Vizsla is lying, but it's not. But – but –

"You're lying," he snaps finally.

No, this is impossible. It can't be true. He has to be lying. Why else would he spare you? His traitorous mind has to go and whisper. You know how much he hates the Jedi.