Accismus⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.• Anakin Skywalker⋆౨ৎ˚⟡.•

114.

Padme rushed into the control room with her lieutenant. At the urgent call from a rebel commander, the captain made her way through the Resistance base to the atmosphere's scanner. 

Ahsoka noticed the rush while meditating on one of the balconies of the base, and followed at the sensing of trouble. The Jedi broke her concentration and jumped down trail after Padme. With an ache in her stomach, Ahsoka arrived in the control room only moments after the rebel captain.

'How many?' Padme asked with one hand on the back of the rebel's chair. The woman eyeing the scanner was typing away on the keypad when the captain leaned over her shoulder. Padme's arrival made the woman pause and lean back to allow her to see the dots on her screen.

'Five ships, ma'am,' the rebel woman replied. 'They entered the atmosphere two minutes ago.'

'They have landed six-hundred metres west from here,' another rebel called from the other side of the room. Padme and her lieutenant looked over their shoulders to another scanner, where five dots could be seen in a curved line. The bottom middle of the green screen acted as the base's location, while the five dots that drew closer represented the landed Imperial ships.

'If they have speeders, they'll be here within the hour, Captain,' the lieutenant said in a panic.

Padme stood up straight and looked from her lieutenant, to Ahsoka. The Jedi remained near the door of the control room with tight lips and stoney eyes. She knew what the five ships on the scanner screens meant, and the fear on the captain's face was enough for Ahsoka to act without orders.

Ahsoka headed back into the halls with her poncho flying behind her. She didn't react to the alarm that began to blare through the speakers and broke out into a run through the light beige walls. 

Rebels began to appear around corners and Ahsoka sensed them before they carelessly collided with her. She slowed before a young man swung around a corner and let the oblivious rebel pass before she turned to continue down the hall.

The Jedi arrived in the hanger where chaos ensued. Pilots rushed towards their ships in their orange jumpsuits, and droids pulled wires and fuel pipes out of the way. Helmets were handed to rebels and blasters were pulled from walls to prepare for the battle. The mouth of the hanger showed the first layer of trees and shrubbery of the jungle, but nothing out of the ordinary could be seen among the greenery yet. But it was what lingered beneath the rows of trees that the Resistance feared, and the blaring alarm sent the rebels into a frenzy to protect their base.

'Miss Tano! Miss Tano!'

Ahsoka looked to her right to see C3-PO stiffly rushing towards her. His arched arms flew up to make sure he had her attention, and the hiss of his joints grew louder as he got closer.

'We're under attack, Miss Tano! The Empire have just deployed a total of fifteen ships from-'

'Fifteen?! Padme and I saw five on the scanners!'

'No, ma'am! Ten ships are now in our airspace!'

C3-PO's words were news to Ahsoka, and she wasn't joyous of hearing them for the first time. X-wings and starfighters left the hanger with an aim to protect the Resistance, but they weren't aware of the severity of the ambush. 

Ahsoka watched with a hanging jaw as men and women with blasters left into the jungle and was torn on what to do. They were walking into a suicide mission where armies of soldiers would massacre them in minutes. 

What could Ahsoka do? Tell them to abandon their defenses? Tell them to surrender to the Empire?

The Resistance had to survive, and every rebel wanted to fight for the cause. But that many Imperial ships circulating the jungle was fatal, and the Resistance had no idea what they were running into. The base wasn't fit to stand against such an attack, and the amount of men Padme had would never suffice against a destroyer's supply of TIE fighters, stormtroopers, and Maker knows what else they sent into Yavin 4's atmosphere.