Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Forty-five - Nonpareil

I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the permacrete. It's so kriffin' heroic.
Year 14

———

Kat

I watch Anakin's tracker. See it approach Kashyyyk. I didn't know they had taken my ship, but when I get the damage alert—then I know. Pulling up my ship's stats, I watch the systems fail one by one.

I learned a long time ago not to underestimate Anakin, but that doesn't stop the feeling of my stomach dropping out of my body.

As the moment drags into seconds and keeps going, I detach from the situation. The three most important people to me are in danger, and I just watch. I don't know what damage it is taking, but it's total. When it goes offline, my eyes shift slightly to his tracking data.

It doesn't change. No warning indicating damage. None indicating it's been removed. And none indicating the heartbeat of the body it inhabits has stopped.

I stand there for half an hour, waiting to see if it would tell me anything else. And then, with an exciting flutter of realization, I look back at the ship's stats, all of them offline. My ship...which runs off an old Clone Wars-era relay station, so as not to need the Imperial frequency.

The Imperial frequency—which slave chips connect to.

I turn away from Anakin's green dot, and I do not look at it again until I finish twelve hours later.

It's still green.

Twenty minutes later, I kneel before Annie and record a message. I upload his tracking information for her, then drop the device into her compartment.

"Here's to untested theories," I say under my breath. She beeps in excitement—she's going to see R2.

———

Anakin

My attention is snapped from my meditation when a Wookiee roars in the distance. It's a warning.

There's another roar, closer and above us. A third one rings out, this one I understand.

"What's he saying?" I hear Luke whisper to Leia.

"He said a ship hovered above us and dropped a droid," Leia answers, sounding perplexed.

"Probably Kat's droid," I say mildly before standing to stretch.

"How do you know?" Obi-Wan asks suspiciously. "We haven't made our location known to anyone off-world."

"Kat can track me. For a ship to be directly above us," I shrug, letting them fill in the rest.

Obi-Wan appears ready to pound me with questions but before he can, I hear the thrusters. R2 beeps excitedly just before Annie drops to the platform.

"Hey Annie," I say with a grin, amused I had been correct. But also, I'm consumed with pride. Kitten must have done it.

She beeps a hello, then a more excited greeting toward R2.

"What do you have for us?"

She opens up a compartment and I pull out a small remote.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" It only has one button, but it is far too heavy for its size.

Annie backs up and starts playing a hologram of Kitten, causing my heart to pang. She looks exhausted, dressed in something between sleeping and resting clothes. But she looks so sexy, her hair in a messy tangle on top of her head, my cock stirs the moment her voice comes out. "I hope this finds you all well," she begins, and I hear the worry behind her voice. "I do apologize this took so long, but I think you will be pleased when you find out why." No, something is weighing her down, despite the gentle smile.